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THE PRESIDENT'S CONFERENCE ON
HOME BUILDING AND HOME
OWNERSHIP

Called by
PRESIDENT HOOVER

ROBERT P. LAMONT

SECRETARY OF COMMERCE

RAY LYMAN WILBUR

SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR

Joint Chairmen

Negro Housing

Report of the
COMMITTEE ON NEGRO HOUSING

NANNIE H. BURROUGHS, Chairman

Prepared -for the Committee

by
CHARLES S. JOHNSON

Edited by
JOHN M. CRIES and JAMES FORD

THE PRESIDENT'S CONFERENCE ON HOME
BUILDING AND HOME OWNERSHIP

WASHINGTON, D. C.

Acknoivledgment is made to the Secretary of the Committee on
Negro Housing, Charles S. Johnson, for preliminary editing and
frequent help in the preparation of this final report for publication.
Acknowledgment is likewise made to Dan H. Wheeler for the
detailed work of preparing this volume for the press and to Marion
E. Hall for assistance in that work and for the preparation of
the Index.

BY THE PRESIDENT'S CONFERENCE ON HOME BUILD-
ING AND HOME OWNERSHIP, ROBERT P. LAMONT
AND RAY LYMAN WILBUR, JOINT CHAIRMEN. ALL
RIGHTS RESERVED, INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO RE-
PRODUCE THIS BOOK, OR PORTIONS THEREOF, IN
ANY FORM.

PRINTED BY NATIONAL CAPITAL PRESS, INC., WASHINGTON, D. C., U. S. A.

COMMITTEE ON NEGRO HOUSING

Miss NANNIE H. BURROUGHS, Chairman

President, National Training School for Women and Girls,

Washington, D. C.

George R. Arthur, Associate for Ne-
gro Welfare, Julius Rosenwald
Fund, Chicago, Illinois.

L. T. Burbridge, President, Louisiana
Industrial Life Insurance Company,
New Orleans, Louisiana.

Joseph S. Clark, President, Southern
University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Mrs. Irene M. Gaines, Vice Chairman,
Executive Board of Illinois Asso-
ciation of Colored Women, Chicago,
Illinois.

Mrs. Lena Trent Gordon, Special In-
vestigator, Department of Public
Welfare, Bureau of Legal Aid,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Lorenzo J. Greene, Research Investi-
gator, The Association for the
Study of Negro Life and History,
Inc., Washington, D. C.

W. J. Hale, President, Tennessee
Agricultural and Industrial State
College, Nashville, Tennessee.

Gordon B. Hancock, Chairman, De-
partment of Economics and Soci-
ology, Virginia Union University,
Richmond, Virginia.

Leon R. Harris, Editor, The Modern
Farmer, Moline, Illinois.

T. Arnold Hill, Director, Department
of Industrial Relations, National
Urban League, New York, New
York.

Robert H. Hpgan, Contractor and
Builder, Lexington, Kentucky.

Benjamin F. Hubert, President, Geor-
gia State Industrial College, Indus-
trial College, Georgia.

Zachary T. Hubert, Former President,
Agricultural and Normal Univer-
sity, Langston, Oklahoma.

Mrs. Daisy E. Lampkin, Regional
Field Secretary, National Associa-
tion for the Advancement of Colored
People, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Moses McKissack, Architect, Nash-
ville, Tennessee.

Robert R. Moton, Principal, Tuskegee
Normal and Industrial Institute,
Tuskegee Institute, Alabama.

John E. Nail, Real Estate Operator;
Former President, Association of
Trade and Commerce, New York,
New York.

Samuel W. Rutherford, Former Sec-
retary, National Benefit Life Insur-
ance Company, Washington, D. C.

Miss Fannie C. Williams, President,
The National Association of Teach-
ers in Colored Schools, New Or-
leans, Louisiana.

Mrs. Florence C. Williams, State Di-
rector of Health Education for
Negroes, Arkansas Tuberculosis As-
sociation, Little Rock, Arkansas.

CHARLES S. JOHNSON, Research Secretary,

Director, Department of Social Science, Fisk University,

Nashville, Tennessee.

NEGRO HOUSING

Groups of the Committee on Negro Housing

Group on Physical Aspects of

Negro Housing
Urban Section
George R. Arthur, Chairman
Mrs. Irene M. Gaines
Miss Fannie C. Williams
Rural Section

Mrs. Florence C. Williams,

Chairman

Zachary T. Hubert
Leon R. Harris
Moses McKissack

Group on Social and Economic
.Factors in Negro Housing
T. Arnold Hill, Chairman
Mrs. Lena Trent Gordon
Lorenzo J. Greene
Gordon B. Hancock

Group on Financing and Home

Ownership

Robert R. Moton, Chairman
L. T. Burbridge
Robert H. Hogan
John E. Nail
Samuel W. Rutherford

Group on Negro Housing and the

Community

Charles S. Johnson, Chairman
Joseph S. Clark
Robert R. Moton
W. J. Hale
Mrs. Daisy E. Lampkin

Correlating Group

Charles S. Johnson, Chairman

George R. Arthur

T. Arnold Hill

Robert R. Moton

Mrs. Florence C. Williams

FOREWORD

In the housing of Negro citizens, particularly in cities, our
philosophy of individual responsibility for shelter has proved to
be inadequate. Consider the situation of the typical family of
Negro migrants from the farm of the South to the great industrial
city of the North. With habits adapted to an isolated cabin, where
space simplified sanitary problems, water was taken from a well,
and cooking done perhaps in a fireplace, the family shifts to the
midst of a crowded city. Their poverty forces them, as it forces all
immigrants, into the most deteriorated residential sections. They
crowd in one or two rooms of a dilapidated house, share a hall
toilet with several other families, often cook in a closet, and three
or four may sleep in a room. The residents of the area in which
they live pay no taxes and have no influence so the municipality
tends to overlook their needs for utilities, and to ignore violations
of the housing and sanitary codes. Racial as well as economic
factors restrict them to limited areas. Consequently, additional
immigrants increase the overcrowding. The excess of demand
over supply permits rent profiteering. High rents and low wages
mean that the mother must go to work and that the family must
share its already inadequate space with lodgers, with consequent
ill effects on family life and morals. In addition, the dilapidated
areas into which Negroes are forced are frequently the areas of
prostitution and crime. Under these conditions it is not to be
wondered at that the mortality rate for Negroes is more than twice
that for whites in the same cities.

Perhaps the worst aspect of the entire situation is that the factor
of racial segregation makes it exceedingly difficult for any Negro
family, no matter what its character or aspirations, to escape
these conditions. It is difficult for them to get into more desirable
residential sections ; there are few new developments in accessible
areas for Negroes; the cost of home-financing for them is fre-
quently excessive.

These conditions of Negro housing in our cities are not the
result of any wilful inhumanity on the part of our society. On
the contrary, they merely emphasize the present shortcomings of
our individualistic theory of housing, and the failure which grows

VII

viii NEGRO HOUSING

out of expecting each person in our highly complex industrial
civilization to provide his own housing as best he may. The
Negro's housing problem is part of the general problem of provid-
ing enough housing of acceptable standards for the low-income
groups in our society. Racial factors and the primitive housing
conditions to which he has been accustomed, and which necessitate
a more drastic readjustment than for other groups, contribute to
make the Negro the worst sufferer.

What is the solution ? It is not to attempt to do something for
Negro housing alone. It is not to supply homes to Negroes
through private or public charity. It is to reorganize our prac-
tices in the planning and production of all housing. We must
begin with the theory. The realization of community responsibility
for housing must take the place of our present concept of in-
dividual responsibility. The technique which the application of
this new theory makes necessary has been formulated for the first
time with some completeness by the President's Conference. When
cities are planned in neighborhood units, there will be no homes
backed up against stock yards or railroad tracks. When proper
zoning regulations are enforced it will be impossible to crowd
houses on land and to crowd people in houses. When minimum
standards for housing are established and enforced in all our cities,
and housing meeting those standards is made available for all
people in the low-income groups — by reduction in the cost of con-
struction and home-financing, by the cooperation of private initia-
tive and government in slum clearance and rebuilding, by exten-
sive reconditioning and remodeling of existing dwellings, and by
the many other means proposed by the Conference — when these
things are accomplished, the insanitary overcrowding typical of
Negro quarters in our cities will be a thing of the past.

In so far as the Negro is the victim of special handicaps, such
as those arising from segregation, low wages, rent profiteering,
and unusual difficulties of adjustment, special measures must be
taken for him. Education — training the Negro to seek and main-
tain higher standards of housing — is perhaps of primary impor-
tance. The provision of good housing will do more than any-
thing else to consolidate such education.

The report of the Committee on Negro Housing is distinguished
by its objectivity. For that reason it compels unusual attention. It

FOREWORD ix

is our duty to see that it bears fruit in action. The committee
points out that more than forty notable surveys and investigations
of Negro housing conditions have from time to time shocked the
public into temporary interest, but have brought little if any per-
manent improvement in these conditions because they were not
followed up. That should not be the fate of this present survey.

July 1, 1932 ROBERT P. LA MONT.

INTRODUCTION

The conditions of Negro housing and the means of their im-
provement are an immediate and urgent personal problem for
nearly twelve million of the American population who are Ne-
groes. The whole population of America is in many ways affected
by the conditions of living of Negro families as it is by the hous-
ing problems of all other elements of our population. The health
of the community is affected by poor sanitation endured by any
of its citizens. The safety of the community is equally affected
by dilapidation, needless fire risks or other dangers. Exploitation
or injustice, wherever they may occur, exert a poisonous influence
upon general social attitudes and ideals and may create habits of
thought and action which spread the evil to other social groups or
permeate the entire social fabric.

In organizing a nation-wide Conference on Home Building and
Home Ownership it was essential to deal directly and squarely
with this problem. Although others of the thirty-one committees
of the Conference touched upon Negro housing here and there in
the course of their reports it was clear that there should be a
special committee representing the leading thinkers among our
twelve million Negroes and made up like the other committees of
persons who have already devoted much attention and thought to
the problems in question. It was fortunately possible to secure
the services of Negro social workers, realtors, business men, uni-
versity presidents and professors, representatives of foundations
and others intimately concerned with one aspect or another of
housing. The North and the South, the cities and the rural com-
munities were represented.

As this committee considered for our Negro population all of
the problems covered by the thirty other committees of the Con-
ference it was larger in its membership than the average and had
somewhat larger funds at its disposal than most other committees
save that on Farm and Village Housing which represented not one-
tenth but two-fifths of our population. This final report of the
Committee on Negro Housing is to our minds an ample justifica-
tion of this procedure.

To anyone familiar with the subject matter of this volume, it
will be at once apparent that it is the most comprehensive and

xii NEGRO HOUSING

valuable document on Negro Housing that has been issued up to
this time. The committee has sifted, analyzed and made use of
all of the available material previously published on this subject
and has had access to many unpublished studies in the possession
of social service agencies and the universities. With restraint and
fair-mindedness they have presented the facts as they find them
and have cited their references so that the future student of the
subject may go back to the original sources if he should have need
to pursue the subject further. In view of the fact that the com-
mittee had only one-half year at its disposal for the compilation
of its report and to conduct its researches, it has presented a sur-
prisingly well-rounded picture of the conditions of Negro housing
in those areas in which the Negro population is relatively large.

Further researches will doubtless be needed, for the studies
made prior to this report and upon which it was based, have been
sporadic and limited. Appreciating this fact the committee has
outlined among its recommendations those studies which in its
judgment are in need of immediate and detailed research. With
the report of the Committee on Negro Housing as a basis and
background, such future researches should commend themselves
to the philanthropic foundations interested in Negro welfare and
to the research departments in social sciences of our leading uni-
versities and state agricultural colleges.

JOHN M. GRIES,
JAMES FORD.

June 28, 1932.

CONTENTS

PAGE

PREFACE 1

CHAPTER I. PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF NEGRO HOUSING 4

Negro Housing as a Phase of City Growth 4

General Characteristics of Inhabited Areas 5

Patterns of Negro Segregation 6

Physical Condition of Dwellings Occupied by Negroes . . 7

Sectional Factors in Negro Housing 8

Summary of Studies of Physical Aspects of Negro

Housing 26

CHAPTER II. NEGRO HOUSING AND THE COMMUNITY 35

Segregation Ordinances and Private Covenants 35

Patterns of Legal Segregation Attempted 37

Restrictive Compacts and Covenants 40

Some Social Effects of Formal Efforts at Segregation. . 42

Arguments Advanced in Support of Segregation 44

Arguments Against Segregation 45

Violence and Intimidation 46

How New Sites Are Acquired 48

Property Depreciation and Negro Residence 48

CHAPTER III. SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC FACTORS IN NEGRO

HOUSING 52

Neighborhoods and Delinquency 52

Mortality and Negro Housing 57

Living Standards 58

Some Social Implications of High Rents and Low Wages 69

General Observations on Social and Economic Factors. . 71

CHAPTER IV. HOME OWNERSHIP 79

Southern Cities 85

Home Ownership and Family Stability 86

Individual Home Building on Small Capital 89

General Observations on Negro Home Ownership 91

CHAPTER V. FINANCING OF NEGRO HOME BUYING 92

The Elements of Risk in Financing Negro Properties ... 92

Mortgages on Negro Property 93

Negroes as Credit Risks 102

CHAPTER VI. HOUSING PROJECTS FOR NEGROES 105

xiii

xiv NEGRO HOUSING

PAGE

CHAPTER VII. RECOMMENDATIONS 114

Further Projects for Study on Housing 116

APPENDIX I. EXTRACTS FROM STUDIES OF NEGRO HOUS-
ING— ITS PHYSICAL ASPECTS 119

Urban Surveys 119

Rural Surveys 141

APPENDIX II. SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC FACTORS IN NEGRO
HOUSING — HOUSING CONDITIONS AMONG NEGROES IN

CHICAGO 143

The Problem of Delinquency and Crime 144

The Geographical Distribution of Negro Delinquents. . . 155

Economic Levels of Income Among Negroes 156

Rent Levels Among Negroes in Chicago 172

Zones of Negro Settlement 183

Findings and Tentative Conclusions 195

APPENDIX III. EXTRACTS FROM STUDIES OF NERGO HOUS-
ING— SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC FACTORS — SEGREGATION . . . 199

General 199

The Causes and Results of Segregation 206

The Negro Protests Against Ghetto Conditions 214

Zoning 217

Rural Segregation 224

APPENDIX IV. EXTRACTS FROM STUDIES OF NEGRO HOUS-
ING— HOME OWNERSHIP 231

APPENDIX V. EXTRACTS FROM STUDIES OF NEGRO HOUS-
ING— HOUSING PROJECTS 237

APPENDIX VI. THE BETTER HOMES CAMPAIGN 249

APPENDIX VII. THE KITCHENETTE APARTMENT — A COM-
PARATIVE STUDY OF APARTMENTS OCCUPIED BY WHITES

AND NEGROES IN PARALLEL AREAS 258

APPENDIX VIII. BIBLIOGRAPHY 260

Housing Conditions 260

Segregation (Residential) 266

Better Housing Campaigns and Projects 270

NEGRO HOUSING
PREFACE

The Negro population of America, due to factors in its history,
constitutes at present a considerable proportion of the familiar
low-income group families and, in like manner, has in its own com-
position a larger proportion of families of this level than is true
of other groups of the population. In housing, the process of
selection and segregation normally follows economic lines. If
this were all, there would be no reason for discussing Negro hous-
ing apart from the simple factors of economic status and selection.
It would be understood that the same general conditions operate
to fix the physical limits of their residence and, in so far as the
causes are common, the remedies have no need to vary.

Quite apart, however, from these simple economic factors are
social and cultural factors to be reckoned with in the question of
Negro housing which tend, on the one hand, to give greater
intensity and permanence to their economic segregation, and, on
the other hand, to create novel difficulties which other groups
experience only slightly or not at all. It is for this reason, prin-
cipally, that Negro housing is isolated for special discussion. Such
isolation, however, has no need to include other than these specific
problems and a measure of the extent to which they are realistically
registered in the physical surroundings of this group, and in their
exaggerated social consequences.

This population, it may be conceded, is not now so essentially
different from the American culture in size of family or require-
ment of security, comfort, cleanliness, and beauty as to demand
different patterns of dwellings or different measures in other of
the essentials of living. Thus, it may be assumed that the normal
basis for the establishment of an American home, with respect to
location, equipment, care, and ownership, is not only acceptable
but a requisite of that type of citizenship which is the objective of
these inquiries.

Many factors have combined to obscure the basic problems of
Negro housing. Most of the studies have been made without
reference to the pattern of the city, or the natural factors, apart
from race, responsible for conditions. They have, almost in-
variably, been restricted studies of deteriorated areas which ignored

2 NEGRO HOUSING

the process by which these areas were selected. The literature of
Negro housing is virtually a literature of the slums. The fact is
scarcely challengeable, but it has been sought, commonly and un-
fortunately, to explain these in terms of a fixed destiny, a pro-
pensity to depreciation, a uniform emotional adjustment to the
setting, an ability to subsist on less than others require.

The factors which appear to constitute Negro housing a distinct
problem may be listed as follows :

1. The course of selection and segregation which, almost without excep-
tion, draws the Negro population into the most deteriorated residence sec-
tions of the city. This is in part the process of city growth, in part economic
selection and segregation, and in part racial selection.

The tendency to compactness and group solidarity. This is enforced in
part from without and in part from within.

2. The accelerated rate of deterioration inherent in the character of
Negro properties, due to age and use.

3. The depreciation of property values attributed to Negro occupancy
or proximity. This is in part economic and in part psychological.

4. Segregation legislation designed to restrict areas of residence as a
public measure.

5. Restrictive compacts and covenants, designed to restrict areas of Negro
residence as a private measure.

6. Objection of white residents to the presence of Negroes in certain
areas, as registered in:

(a) Clashes,

(b) Bombings of property,

7. Exclusion of the Negroes from new housing developments.

8. Limitation of facilities for financing of Negro home ownership.

9. Increased rentals with Negro occupancy.

10. Factors related to the level of culture of the majority population of
the Negro group, as reflected in the care of property.

11. The relation of such physical factors as excessive congestion, and
physical deterioration to correspondingly excessive rates of delinquency and
mortality in Negro areas.

The Negro population in 1930 was 11,891,143, or about 10 per
cent of the total population. It is unevenly distributed throughout
the United States in proportions varying from less than 1 per
cent to as much as 50 per cent, which obtains in Mississippi.
Four-fifths of this population resides in the South, and until re-
cently has been predominantly rural. The movement to cities,
however, definitely noted in 1880, has been proceeding with ac-
celerated pace. Between 1910 and 1920 the rate of increase for

PREFACE 3

urban centers was 32.3, while the rural areas showed an actual
decrease of 3.3 per cent. Both southern and northern urban
centers have felt this increase. In intersectional migration the
tendency has been to remove from southern rural areas to north-
ern urban centers. Cities of the North, accordingly, have shown
increases ranging from 10 to 600 per cent. Chicago's Negro popu-
lation in 1910 was 44,103; in 1930 it had increased to 233,903.
Philadelphia's increased from 84,459 in 1910 to 219,599 in 1930,
and that of New York, which has now perhaps the largest Negro
population, from 91,709 to 327,706.

Where the proportions of Negroes in the total population change
in these northern cities, the accepted social balance is disturbed,
and this carries with it very special complications. The proportion
of Negroes in the total population of New York increased from
1.9 in 1910 to 4.7 in 1930, in Cleveland from 1.5 to 7.9, in Phila-
delphia from 5.5 to 11.3, and in Detroit from 1.2 to 7.7. These
are indications of the increase and accentuation of the social prob-
lems connected with housing for this group of the population. It
is accepted as the task of this report to outline these problems.

Some of the material in this volume consists of extracts from
articles, books, and manuscripts based on studies of Negro hous-
ing. In some instances copies of the source are rare, a single copy
being on file in a particular library (as for example the unpub-
lished manuscript of local communities in Chicago — see footnote
3, Appendix II, p. 145). These sources have been available to the
committee in the preparation of its report, although they have not
been accessible to the editors and may not be to readers of the
report. Such questions as may arise in regard to these materials
may, therefore, be taken up with the committee through the
chairman, group chairmen or secretary who will be glad to extend
such helpful advice as possible.

CHAPTER I
PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF NEGRO HOUSING

Negro Housing as a Phase of City Growth

In the normal expansion of a city there has been observed a
fairly definite process of sifting and selection of different elements
of the population. While the selection in its general aspects is
economic and cultural, the realistic result approaches national and
racial segregation. This process accounts for the existence of im-
migrant communities, popularly referred to as Chinatown, Shanty-
town, Jewtown, Little Italy, and "Black Belt" which takes a
variety of descriptive names.

"As the city grows it expands outward from its center. This radial ex-
tension from the downtown business district toward the outskirts of the city
is due partly to business and industrial pressure and partly to residential pull.
Business and light manufacturing, as they develop, push out from the center
of the city and encroach upon residence. At the same time, families are
always responding to the appeal of more attractive residential districts,
further and ever further removed from the center of the city." 1

The process is a familiar one. A result of this is the virtual
organization of the city into zones. There is a central business
district, a zone in transition from residence to business, a zone of
workingmen's homes, a residence zone, and a commuter's zone.
So pronounced is this natural tendency, that city planning schemes
have adopted the general outlines of this pattern, in their efforts
to give stability and protection in the use of land for residence,
business or manufacturing, according to the dominant character
of the area.2

It is most important to give attention to this factor of city

1 Burgess, Ernest W., "Residential Segregation in American Cities,"
Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Novem-
ber, 1928, Vol. 140, pp. 105-115. See also: Park, Robert E., Burgess, E. W.,

Problems in Cities, Garden City, N. Y., Doubleday, Doran and Company,
Inc., 1928.

2 See definition of zoning in A Zoning Primer, by the Advisory Committee
on City Planning and Zoning, Division of Building and Housing, Depart-
ment of Commerce, 1926.

PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF NEGRO HOUSING 5

growth because it develops that the zone of transition, virtually in
accordance with the laws of city growth, attracts immigrant and
Negro populations. These are, economically, the least competent
elements of the population, and to this inadequacy is added the
well-nigh fixed physical limitations of the available dwellings.
The common economic element in the situation is evident in the
fact that the patterns of selection and segregation are in their first
aspects similar for the lowest-income ranges of the immigrant
groups and for Negroes. In such cities as Chicago, Cleveland,
Detroit, New York, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh, there may be
noted an inevitable concentration of the bulk of the population
in a few wards.3

One notable difference appears between the immigrant and
Negro populations. In the case of the former, there is the possi-
bility of escape, with improvement in economic status, in the sec-
ond generation, to more desirable sections of the city. In the case
of the Negroes, who remain a distinguishable group, the factor of
race and certain definite racial attitudes favorable to their segrega-
tion, interpose difficulties to the breaking of the physical restric-
tions in residence areas. In southern cities where the immigrant
population is negligible, there is commonly a concentration of the
Negro population in these areas of transition, occasionally with a
scattering of the poorest elements of the native white population.

General Characteristics of Inherited Areas

Inasmuch as these interstitial areas represent the first residence
sites of the city, the first important factor is the advanced age of
the dwellings in these areas. Age carries with it the question of
modern improvements in sanitation, the state of repair, the dis-
proportionately large amounts necessary to sustain old and dilapi-
dated properties, detached ownership, the lack of municipal
attention to these sections which are usually without sufficient
power, economic or political, to command improvements. These
factors may be listed as common to such blighted areas : *

8 In Cleveland, with 26 wards, there are, in a single ward, as many as 34.1
per cent of the Negroes, 22.6 per cent of the Italians and 21.5 per cent of the
Poles. In Chicago, 43.5 per cent of the Negroes, 25.6 per cent of the Italians
and 12.2 per cent of the Poles are found in a single ward.

4 Johnson, Charles S., The Negro in American Civilisation, New York,
Henry Holt & Company, 1930. ("The Problem of Homes," pp. 206-207.)

6 NEGRO HOUSING

1. The dwellings, being no longer desirable for residence, while the land
is potentially valuable for business, are as a rule difficult to buy.

2. They are difficult to put or keep in repair.

3. The area attracts few new dwellings.

4. The dwellings are out-of-date and frequently fall within the class
tolerated as "old law" houses, with few of the sanitary provisions required in
new structures for the preservation of health.

5. The dwellings were erected for purposes and family habits different
enough from the habits and necessities of the new Negro families to intro-
duce difficulties. For example, the intimate arrangement of the early houses
for private families is dangerously unsuitable for the new families which
must take lodgers into their households. Privacy is destroyed and other
social problems introduced.

6. Where this population is set off without influence there is a tempta-
tion for the city government to neglect it in matters of street cleaning,
garbage disposal, paving and police protection. Interest and available funds
center upon the improvements in new areas.

Although there is in the North a concentration of both im-
migrant and Negro populations in these blighted areas, the Negro
concentration is invariably higher, ranging from 30 to 70 per cent.
This factor, together with similar concentration in sections of the
South in which there are few immigrants, gives to the Negro sec-
tions of cities an almost fixed association with blighted areas. At
the same time the complication of social and racial factors makes
it extremely difficult either to improve these areas or to escape
from them completely.

Patterns of Negro Segregation

Wherever there is a Negro population of any size, there will
be found some degree of concentration. However, the patterns
of separation vary among the cities, from widely scattered clusters
to cities in which 90 per cent of the Negro population resides
within the limits of a contiguous area. Woofter 5 describes several
general patterns which are more or less familiar, and which repre-
sent approximately the dominant characteristics of the principal
types.

"The first group is typified by New York and Chicago, where the concen-
tration of Negroes is great and yet where it affects only a small part of the
whole city area. In Chicago this pattern seems to be changing as the
Negroes spread more southward. In New York, 96 per cent of the white

5 Woofter, T. J. Jr. and Associates, Negro Problems in Cities, Garden
City, N. Y., Doubleday, Doran and Company, Inc., 1928, p. 38.

PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF NEGRO HOUSING 7

people are in concentrated white areas and 28 per cent of the colored people
are in concentrated colored areas.

"The second group is typified by Richmond, and includes most of the large
southern cities where Negroes are highly concentrated in several rather
large parts of the city and lightly scattered in others, thus leaving a large
proportion of the white people in areas from 10 to 90 per cent Negro. In
Richmond 53 per cent of the white people are in concentrated white areas
and 25 per cent of the Negroes in concentrated Negro areas.

"The third group is typified by Charleston, and is limited to the older
southern cities and towns which have a heavy percentage of Negroes in
their total population, and consequently a heavy scattering of Negroes
throughout the city. In Charleston there are no enumeration districts that
have a population less than 10 per cent colored, and none that has a popu-
lation less than 10 per cent white, placing all members of both races in
districts from 10 to 90 per cent colored.

"Group four is composed of cities with light colored infusion, where the
diffusion of Negroes affects only a very small area of the city and is some-
what scattered within this area. In Gary, 89 per cent of the white people
are in concentrated white areas and no Negro districts are more than 90
per cent Negro."

Physical Condition of Dwellings Occupied by Negroes

The material for this section of the report has been drawn from
studies made by agencies and institutions in various sections of the
United States. These studies were made at different periods and
from different angles, thus offering little that is exactly comparable.
The circumstances under which the studies were made have, as a
rule, been unusual. A sudden population congestion, an outburst
of crime or sickness has frequently prompted an investigation of
Negro housing. Moreover, these have not always been general
studies. It is the pathology of housing that has come in most
often for study; consequently much of the literature emphasizes
this slant to the neglect, frequently, of such normal situations as
may exist.

A few students have attempted to make a distinction between
broad types of Negro dwellings. One of the most thorough of
these studies was that made by the Chicago Commission on Race
Relations in 1921. 6 Dwellings were classified according to types
from "A," which was described as the best, to "D," described as
the poorest. About 15 per cent of the Negroes were found to be
living in types "A" and "B," while the remaining 85 per cent

6 The Chicago Commission on Race Relations, The Negro in Chicago,
Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1922.

8 NEGRO HOUSING

lived in types "C" and "D." These latter dwellings were located
in the areas of heaviest concentration, and were the familiar in-
herited properties in and near blighted areas. More than half of
these dwellings in classes "C" and "D" lacked the necessary con-
veniences of adequate shelter.

The Woofter housing study observed in all cities some central
district where the majority of Negroes lived, and that this district
was marked by an extremely poor type of housing, municipal
neglect, and a high population density. A table was prepared
classifying more liberally the equipment and condition of the
houses as A, B, C, and D. "A" class houses represented a good,
small dwelling, adequate in size and equipment for the family
occupying it; class "B" comprised houses lacking one major and
two minor items; class "C" houses lacked two or more major
or three minor items, and class "D" lacked five major items and
might be regarded as virtually uninhabitable. His scale was ap-
plied to 12,123 families. Of the owners, 21.7 per cent were in
class "A" and 2.2 in class "D." Of the renters 4.0 were in class
"A" and 18.9 in class "D." The main point of consideration is
the fact that in the normal distribution of Negro-occupied
dwellings, the factor of pathology actually looms large, whether
North or South is considered.

Sectional Factors in Negro Housing

The differences in building costs between sections, in economic
levels of the general populations, in municipal sanitary codes and
public conveniences, in adoption of modern equipment into homes,
naturally affect the Negro population. The basic social relation-
ship of the Negroes to the general population seldom varies be-
tween sections, although there may appear significant variations
in the proportion of Negro homes of approved standards. In
appraising the physical features of Negro housing, it seems best
to treat these factors sectionally.

Negro Housing in Northern Cities. The Negro population of
the North in 1910 was 1,027,674. By 1920 it had increased to
1,472,309, an increase of 43.3 per cent; and by 1930 it had grown
to 2,409,219, a further increase of 63.6. In actual figures the
increase of the last decade was 936,910. In view of the fact that
the rate of increase for the entire Negro population was 13.6 and
that natural increase in the North has been considerably lower

PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF NEGRO HOUSING 9

than for the Negro population as a whole, it would appear that at
least 800,000 of this number are migrants who came during the
past ten years. The areas of Negro residence in the northern cities
have shown a tendency toward concentration within fewer wards
since 1880.7 The location of these areas has seldom changed
except by expansion, and expansion has been met with the dual
resistance of natural boundaries and racial antipathy. Where
these populations have been increased, there has been a lack of
housing, with consequent congestions, unhealthful living condi-
tions, and high rents.8 For the new populations have moved into
the Negro areas already established.

The industrial centers, which have attracted the largest numbers
of Negroes during the past fifteen years, have made no adequate
provision for Negro workers drawn to their plants in an emer-
gency, and conditions have frequently become so acute as to draw
the attention of the community, sometimes to study, most often,
however, to condemn the undesirability of the accessions.

"Throughout the industrial centers of the North the majority of Negro
homes are located in sections where transportation facilities are inadequate,
or in areas where the expansion of business houses, railroads and factories
has rendered the district undesirable for residential purposes, or else in old
sections where the paving, lighting, street cleaning, and sanitary regulations
are neglected." 9

The specific process by which Negroes come into possession of
these areas may be described as follows: The level of Negro in-
come points him toward the sections of low-priced dwellings.
Real estate operators and home building concerns or individuals
find it impracticable to build new homes in deteriorated residence
areas. From the new developments Negroes are almost uni-
versally debarred. The available houses, thus, are limited to these
run-down areas which, as they become less and less desirable, com-
mand less and less rent and correspondingly lower elements of the
white population. Few repairs are made, and eventually a point
is reached at which it is more profitable to admit Negroes than to

'Hoffman, Frederick L., Race Traits and Tendencies of the American
Negro, Publications of the American Economic Association, 1896, 1st Series.
Vol. 11, Nos. 1-3.

8 "The Negro in Industry," Survey Report No, 5, American Management
Association, New York, 1923.

9 Kennedy, Louise Venable, The Negro Peasant Turns Cityward, New
York, Columbia University Press, 1930.

10 NEGRO HOUSING

lower the rentals further.10 Few new houses are built in the
Negro areas.11 The standards embodied in building ordinances
and sanitary codes thus cannot apply to their dwellings. The
chances for improvement are extremely rare. Property is diffi-
cult to buy because land takes on new valuation in areas poten-
tially useful for business.

The forces determining location have at the same time deter-
mined association. It is not uncommon, therefore, that these
Negro areas have been found in juxtaposition to the old red-
light sections, to cheap boarding houses, and to the noise and
grime of factories and railroad yards.

While it is true that these aspects are most acute in periods of
sudden population expansion, the fixed conditions of Negro resi-
dence in the cities of the North and the experience of these cities
over the past fifteen years lead to the conclusion that all that can
be expected are further decline and deterioration in these areas
until they are taken over by business and the Negro population
pushed into another cycle of the same character.

Congestion. With but few exceptions among all of the cities
studied, there is a chronic overcrowding in the Negro dwellings,
when considered as a whole. Where residence areas spread slowly
and few new houses are erected, increases in the population are
accommodated by doubling up. The practice of taking in lodgers
serves the double purpose of providing individuals and small fami-
lies with a place to stay, in the absence of small apartments and
hotels, and of providing essential assistance on the payment of
rents. In New York City within a comparatively small area there
were 3,314 lodgers in 2,326 apartments. This did not always in-
clude relatives living in these families. Over half of these apart-
ments had between 5 and 10 persons.12 Elizabeth Hughes found
40 per cent of the Negro and Mexican one-family households in

10 Nearing, Scott, Black America, New York, Vanguard Press, 1929.

11 Reid, Ira De A., The Negro Population of Albany, N. Y., New York,
National Urban League, 1928.

Hughes, Elizabeth A., Living Conditions for Small-Wage Earners in
Chicago, Bureau of Social Surveys, Chicago Department of Public Welfare,
1925.

The Negro in Detroit (Section V, "Housing"), Prepared for the Mayor's
Interracial Committee, Detroit Bureau of Governmental Research, Inc.,
1926. (Mimeographed.)

12 Reid, Ira De A., Twenty-four Hundred Negro Families in Harlem, New
York, New York Urban League, 1927.

PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF NEGRO HOUSING 11

Chicago taking in lodgers,13 and in Columbus, Ohio, in 1928 there
was actual overcrowding in 54 per cent of the families.14 In
Detroit there was an average of 2.07 lodgers in the Negro house-
holds, and for those families with lodgers the numbers ranged
from 1 to 27.

Housing authorities set as the ideal use of land, about 10 fami-
lies to an acre in outlying sections, and approximately 20 families,
or about 70 persons, in central sections. Negro blocks are con-
stantly found to violate this standard, for reasons over which, it
would seem, they have little control. Woofter 15 measured the
population density per acre in a number of cities as compared
with the population as a whole. Negro density was twice as great
as the total in Chicago, two-and-a-half times as great in Buffalo,
and nearly five times as great in Philadelphia. In New York City,
where population density is in a measure compensated by high
buildings, the total density for the city was 223, while the Negro
density was 336 per acre, although Negroes have comparatively
few apartments 16 high enough to require elevators.

The studies agree that the chief causes for this situation are
scarcity of available houses for Negroes, and the high prices
charged for such as could be rented or purchased.17 It is to be
expected that overcrowding will be most serious in high-rent
cities. Both land and room crowding are in evidence. Old single
houses are turned into double houses or crude apartments, as is
quite common in Chicago and New York. With the tendency
observed in cities recently to decrease sanitary inspection and rely
upon complaints of tenants to bring bad conditions to light, there
has been frequent relaxation of such requisites as a separate water
supply and toilet for each family. These tenants are found to
be most often ignorant of the method of making complaints, or
fearful of dispossession if they make them.

"Hughes, Elizabeth A., Living Conditions jor Small-Wage Earners in
Chicago, Bureau of Social Surveys, Chicago Department of Public Welfare,
1925.

14 Mark, Mary Louise, Negroes^ in Columbus (Ohio}, (Section on Housing
Conditions) Department of Sociology, Ohio State University, Ohio State
University Press, 1928.

15 Woofter, T. J. Jr. and Associates, Negro Problems in Cities, Garden
City, N. Y., Doubleday, Doran and Company, Inc., 1928.

18 Ibid.

"Kennedy, Louise Venable, The Negro Peasant Turns Cityward, New
York, Columbia University Press, 1930.

12 NEGRO HOUSING

State of Repair. The general aspect of Negro housing changes
between cities. There will be varying proportions of standard
Negro houses scattered within and without the areas of concen-
tration. But there is no escaping the general aspect of the bulk
of this housing. In New York City, of a considerable group of
houses studied, only about 22 per cent were classed as being in
good condition.18 The Mayor's Interracial Committee of Detroit
in 1926 made an examination of 1,000 Negro dwellings and found,
with respect to interior and exterior repair, about half of them
able to meet moderate standards.19 In Minneapolis, Harris 20
found about 9 per cent of the buildings in good condition. Reid
observed the "scanty equipment and poor repair" of the average
Negro dwelling in Albany, New York, in 1928.21 Elizabeth Hughes
noted that Negroes and Mexicans in Chicago, of small-income
groups, occupied the worst dwellings of all low-income groups.22
The feverish activity of cities, through their chambers of com-
merce and builders, rarely touches the problem of the small-wage
earner, and, with a few outstanding exceptions, has never touched
the Negroes at all.

Bernard J. Newman of the Philadelphia Housing Association
points out that the problem of the housing of any immigrant peo-
ple is always the housing that exists there at the time of their
arrival.23 In Pennsylvania there has been a housing shortage for
small- wage earners of any color. This shortage prompts not only
vicious rent profiteering, but unsanitary and congested occupancy.
Racial altercations and antipathies, reacting upon special groups,
force segregation. When there are few or no houses within their
income level these new groups must, he maintains, then decide :

18 Reid, Ira De A., Twenty-four Hundred Negro Families in Harlem, New
York, New York Urban League, 1927.

M The Negro in Detroit (Section V, "Housing"), Prepared for the Mayor's
Interracial Committee, Detroit Bureau of Governmental Research, Inc., 1926.
(Mimeographed.)

20 Harris, Abram L., The Negro Population in Minneapolis, A Study of
Race Relations, Minneapolis, Minneapolis Urban League, 1926.

21 Reid, Ira De A., The Negro Population of Albany, N. Y., New York,
National Urban League, 1928.

22 Hughes, Elizabeth A., Living Conditions for Small-Wage Earners in
Chicago, Bureau of Social Surveys, Chicago Department of Public Welfare,
1925.

^Newman, Bernard J., Housing of the City Negro, Whittier Center,
Philadelphia, 1915. Paper No. 2.

Courtesy of Better Homes in America

Practice house for home economics students at Hampton Institute, Hamp-
ton, Virginia, built by Negro boys of the Trade School of the Institute.
Its purpose is to teach high standards of housing and home furnishing.

Photograph by N. A. Berthol

An example of the better type of apartment housing available for Negroes

in Cincinnati. Braxton Campbell Court consists of sixteen four-room

apartments which now rent at $30.00 per month.

J? rC O S

< a a o

PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF NEGRO HOUSING 13

1. To take a dwelling larger than their needs, at a higher rental than they
can afford and eke out the difference by letting rooms to lodgers or by
reducing their expenditures for other essentials ; or

2. To take houses discarded as unfit by others and make the best of the
hazards involved; or

3. To reduce their standard of living and occupy apartments too small to
meet their needs ; or

4. To give up housekeeping and go to boarding, to become lodgers them-
selves ; or

5. To go into temporary camps.

One day's inspection of 63 houses in the Negro section uncovered
90 violations of the Housing Law. There were obstructed drainage,
disrepair, accumulation of rubbish and filth, and other nuisances.

Such a situation, which is not uncommon in the cities of the
North, seemed to demand a new and forceful constructive program.
It demanded not only an adequate sanitary law but efficient in-
spection to uncover and correct abuses and, what is most im-
portant, the erection of more houses on a low-cost basis to rent
to low-wage-earning groups.

The Urban Section of the Group on Physical Aspects of Negro
Housing, of which George R. Arthur was chairman, calls attention
to the substantially constructed areas of Negro residence, usually
to be found along with the types of Negro housing which have
been more generally described. Says this group:

"There are in each city of Negro habitation one or more sections of Negro
residence which can be called permanent residence areas. They are located
in the city's outskirts in the zone of workingmen's homes or in the better
residential zone, made up chiefly by families of the middle class including
professional groups. This area can be characterized as the area of attempted
home ownership as over against an area chiefly composed of renters. Here
is found a higher standard of living and a more vital community feeling than
we find in the interstitial area. In the smaller cities we find bungalows,
single dwellings, duplex and small apartments and in the larger cities we
find rows of flats. These residential sections have some element of space ;
they average three to four rooms for each family and there is usually lawn
space around the buildings which is not found in the blighted areas and not
so frequently found in the interstitial area.

"In each survey made by the Urban League, there are listed one or more
such residential sections. The conditions of these sections are varied, rang-
ing from those outlying territories where Negroes are able to buy cheap
land and build for themselves homes from whatever materials they can find,
often a room or two at a time, to the modern complete apartment buildings

14 NEGRO HOUSING

and bungalows to be found in such cities as St. Louis, New York and
Chicago.

"The population movement into these residential areas is a smaller one in
all cities, a further 'invasion' into formerly restricted areas. Old lines give
way and gradual expansion of Negro residential sections takes place."

Rentals. Evidence is abundant that in virtually every city of
the North, Negro tenants are required to pay not merely excessive
rentals for the properties occupied, but a considerably higher
amount than is paid by white families who preceded them, or who
are living in similar properties. This is a result of the limitation
of available dwellings for this element of the population. There
is a serious enough problem for all low-wage-earning groups, but
in the case of the Negroes there are restrictions within these
limitations. In Chicago these rent increases for Negroes were
found to range from 20 to 50 per cent.24 Among low-income
groups of Negroes, Mexicans, and foreign born, twice as many
Negroes as all the others together were paying $10 per month
per room and over, and nearly three times as many Negroes
as native whites were required to pay $10 a month per room
for the same types of buildings.25 In New York City between
1919 and 1927 the Negro rentals through one area increased nearly
100 per cent (from $21.66 to $41.77) while average rentals in-
creased during the same period only 10 per cent.26 The Board of
Health of Buffalo, after studying 1,463 Negro families in that
city, concluded that "the rents in most cases are too high for the
accommodations offered." 27 In the same tenements were white
and Negro families living in similar apartments. These radical
rental differences were noted : 27

White families $7.00 $50.00 $26.00 $50.00 $20.00

Negro families 25.00 45.00 55.00 70.00 28.00

"Johnson, Charles S., The Negro in American Civilisation, New York,
Henry Holt and Company, 1930. ("The Problem of Homes," pp. 199-233.)

25 Hughes, Elizabeth A., Living Conditions for Small-Wage Earners in
Chicago, Bureau of Social Surveys, Chicago Department of Public Welfare,
1925.

28 Reid, Ira De A., Tzventy-four Hundred Negro Families in Harlem, New
York, New York Urban League, 1927.

"Woofter, T. J. Jr. and Associates, Negro Problems in Cities, Garden
City, N. Y., Doubleday, Doran and Company, Inc., 1928, p. 127.

PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF NEGRO HOUSING 15

Reid, again, in New York, was able to measure the rent increases
which followed Negro occupancy in a changing zone:

Table I. Rental Increases Following Negro Occupancy,

New York.

Present

Per Cent

Year

Rental

Increase

Raised

THREE ROOM APARTMENTS

$22

$42

1926

1925

FOUR ROOM APARTMENTS

1926

1925

FIVE ROOM APARTMENTS

1926

1925

Six ROOM APARTMENTS

1925

1926

Mr. Reid states further :

"It is estimated that the market rent is 30 per cent higher than the rent
which is paid by the old tenants. For three-room apartments in New York
the market rent for December, 1925, was $30.55. Tenants who were in pos-
session since 1919 were paying less than $20. In comparing the mean aver-
age for three-room apartments in New York, we find that, based on the
length of tenancy the Negro group continues to pay a much higher rent than
any other racial group. Very few apartments are available for less than
$10 a room. ... In the mean average rent for the more popular apart-
ments (i. e. those of three, four and five rooms), it is found that the Negro
pays on the average of $8 more than the average for a New York three-room
apartment, $10 more for the four-room apartment and $7 more for the five-
room apartment."

Carey Batchelor of the United Neighborhood Houses studied

16 NEGRO HOUSING

groups of low-income families in New York, selecting for the
Negro families in the comparison a group in West Harlem. He
found the typical rental for the entire city to be $316 annually,
and for Negroes $480. The rent per room for the city was
$6.67 and for Negroes $9.50.28

In one of the old areas of Chicago where Negroes have been
living for many years and few improvements made, the rents,
nevertheless, had doubled between 1911 and 1931, and in some in-
stances reached the astonishing figure of 250 per cent.

The trend is consistent, whether in the matter of comparative
rentals or comparative equipment for the same rental. The high
rents for a group already handicapped in employment constitute
a problem of considerable gravity. The situation has been signifi-
cantly associated with the taking in of lodgers to help pay the rent.
The prevailing custom of accepting lodgers is, in turn, given as an
excuse for higher rentals. Whether a cause or result of high rents,
these lodgers have brought with them a train of social problems
ranging from physical congestion to the serious moral disturbance
of family life itself.

It is practically impossible under the present conditions which
control Negro housing to escape vicious exploitation. It is re-
ported that Judge John R. Davies of the Municipal Court in
Harlem, the Negro section of New York, said before the Mayor's
Committee on Rent Profiteering, "It is common for colored ten-
ants in Harlem to pay twice as much as white tenants for the same
apartments," and Judge Panken, before whom many Negro ten-
ants were brought, drew out the admission from one landlord that
he was making $10,000 a year on a $30,000 investment.29

Summarizing its special inquiry into rentals, the Group on
Social and Economic Factors in Negro Housing, of which T.
Arnold Hill was chairman, had this to say:

"The students of Negro housing conditions, and indeed, of Negro urban
problems in general, practically all agree that the Negro renter, at least in
urban communities, pays more rent for what he gets than any other group

28 What the Tenement Family Has and What It Pays for It, New York,
United Neighborhood Houses, 1928. Unpublished.

29 See article by Lane, Winthrop D., in The Survey, New York, March 1,
1925, Vol. 53.

PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF NEGRO HOUSING 17

of renters. 'The rent of Negro dwellings is a plain indication of the ex-
ploitation of Negro neighborhoods. The rents are excessive, whether they
are measured by the kind of house and equipment, by the relation of rents
paid by Negroes and those paid by white people for similar quarters, by the
steady increase in rents, by the relation of rent to the value of property, or
by the proportion which rent forms to the family budget'.30

"The matter of rent is a serious problem, for shelter is one of the prime
necessities of existence in our climate. For food and clothing and other
necessities the Negro can shop in the open market and so is at no distinct
or peculiar disadvantage. The same is not true for shelter, as has been inti-
mated. Of course, exploitation in the matter of housing and high rent is not
confined to the Negro ; that is, the Negro is not the only sufferer, — but even
when every part of the rent-paying population is suffering under unsatis-
factory housing conditions, the Negro rent payer in the cities is likely to feel
the most pressure.

"What are the factors which limit the bargaining power of the Negro
renter more strictly than of other renters? The first, of course, is the
tendency of the community to limit its Negro population to a more or less
well defined area or areas of residence within itself. The second is the low
economic status of the Negro population in general, with its attendant lack
of capital. The first factor creates a condition, the second tends to foster it.

"The segregation of the Negro inhabitant of urban communities is a time-
honored and well-nigh universal phenomenon of American society. From
the slave quarters of the plantation to the typical 'Negro districts' of modern
American cities is not a very long jump, in the minds of most people. It is
not our purpose here to enter into a long discussion of segregation, but to
show how segregation affects rentals.

"On the face of it, the limitation of the supply of a commodity tends to
raise prices, the demand remaining the same. As we have said, lodging is
not only a commodity, it is a necessity. Segregation limits the supply of
houses. Meanwhile the demand may be increasing, as was the case during
the recent movement of Negroes from rural to urban communities, a fact
that has received a great deal of attention during the past twelve years. An
increasing demand and a very inelastic supply were responsible for over-
crowding and high rents generally in many industrial centers during the
period 1916-1921, but the Negro demand was demonstrably increased at a
much higher rate than the general demand, and it is an axiom growing out of
residential segregation that the supply of Negro housing facilities is more
inelastic than the general supply."

Physical Condition of Negro Housing in the South. There

80Headley, Madge, "Housing," (Woofter, T. J. Jr. and Associates, Negro
Problems in Cities, Garden City, N. Y., Doubleday, Doran and Comoanv
Inc., 1928), p. 121.

18 NEGRO HOUSING

have been few studies of Negro housing in the South, but there
has been an increasing awareness of the situation with regard to
the housing of small-income groups. The available data do not,
however, lend themselves to classification in a manner comparable
with those of other sections. Between North and South are
notable differences in wealth, architecture, accessibility of building
materials, and in the rates and direction of urban expansion. The
generalizations of this section of the report are taken from such
studies as have been made, under responsible auspices, in
Richmond, Virginia; Louisville, Kentucky; Washington, D. C. ;
Houston, Texas ; and Nashville, Tennessee ; and from interviews
with social agencies and community leaders in a number of cities,
among which were Chattanooga, New (Orleans, Houston, and
Louisville.

Substantially the same cycles of property use are found in
southern as in northern cities, and the areas characterized by Negro
residence have taken on a distinctive and sometimes violently
descriptive nomenclature. In Chattanooga the Tannery flats,
erected some forty years ago by northern business men, Possum
Town, Darktown, Onion Bottom, Blue Goose Hollow, are definitely
Negro quarters, although there are, of course, stretches of
dwellings in other parts of the city of varying character. Some
of these sites, as in the case of Bush Town,31 had a quasi-philan-
thropic beginning.

In New Orleans, to use one of the large southern cities as an
example, there are many distinct areas of Negro housing in the
city. They range from the ancient Jackson Square double tene-
ments originally built, it is said, to serve as barracks for Napoleon's
soldiers, to the Negro homes in the neighborhood of Straight
College, a Negro school, where good dwellings prevail. As in
Charleston, the Negro population, which is a large domestic service
group, lives near the white population throughout the city. Social
workers, however, know the Devil apartments, the Ark, and Silver
City, named for its brilliance of tin and bottles in the construction.

31 Named for a manufacturer who offered $1,000 to each Negro church
within a radius of one mile, in appreciation of the influence of these churches
in promoting sobriety and good habits in his workers.

PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF NEGRO HOUSING 19

The city has a zoning ordinance which disturbs the normal trend of
housing expansion without offering any satisfactory relief for the
Negro families.

The absence of specific measurements of Negro housing in this
area warrants general description of the areas of Negro resi-
dence, with the process by which they are constantly shifting, and
this is given in some detail because it reflects characteristic trends
in those sections where racial factors are of great importance and
the economic ineffectiveness of the group is exaggerated by deter-
mined racial policies.

Old Residence Areas Turned to Negro Use.32 "There is, first, a section
which is part commercial and part residential, in which Negroes are found.
The residence part formerly was occupied by aristocratic white persons. As
it declined in desirability it became the red-light district. It is populated
chiefly by West Indians who are either in business or have just come over.
The superintendent of the public school system used to live in this area but
the white residents began to move out and then the city built a garbage
incinerator over here, and all of the best whites moved out and the Negroes
moved in with the poor whites. There was a great deal of protest even from
the white business men when they built the incinerator, but they paid no
attention to it. Now about one-half of the population of this area consists
of the laboring class."

White Residents Move Out when Negroes Move in.33 "The railroad
tracks cut through, and the railroad has bought up all of the homes near the
track, apparently to keep better homes from being built which would cause a
protest against the track running through. They rent these houses to Negroes,
and they are badly kept up. The cemetery separates them from the restricted
area. This red-light district was officially broken up during the war, but
it still hangs on. The West Indians go into business there and live there,
but they generally move out after they get a start. They go in there be-
cause of cheap rents and the business opportunities.

"The whites started leaving when the Negroes began to come in. When-
ever a Negro would move next door, that was a signal for them to begin
moving out. Then the school moved over here and that attracted more
Negroes."

Other Disagreeable Factors in Depreciated Properties Are Usually
Overlooked.34 "The incinerator is just four blocks from the school and we
get the odor over here when the wind is blowing this way. It is surrounded
by some of the poorest Negro cabins. Even the Jung Hotel (one of the largest

82 Cited by Mr. George Longe, Principal, Wicker Junior High School,
New Orleans.
33 Ibid.
"Ibid.

20 NEGRO HOUSING

in the city) and all of the Canal Street business men objected to the in-
cinerator being put there.

"The prize-fight coliseum is near the incinerator too ; the area further down
near Jones School (Valena C. Jones, on North side near Claiborne) is
called Monkey Land. Palliate Land is back town, and is named for the
men who owned a large tract of land out there. It is bounded by the
Bayou, St. John, Farias Avenue, the Southern Railroad and Hibernia Ave-
nue. Dillard University has a new site in this section."

Immigrant Areas.35 "About 20 blocks from this area we have a group
consisting largely of Italians making and selling whiskey to Negroes.
'Razor Alley' is near the penitentiary. They called it by that name because
there were so many fights over there. Then there are some sections named
after certain churches. One is called Zion City after Zion Church."

Algiers, a Negro Settlement.38 "There's a section called Algiers over
near the river, and the 'Little Coast in Algiers' is a very interesting place ; it
is in the city limits and McDonough School No. 32 is on the upper side near
the heart of the town. This school I am telling you about is further down
on the lower coast. Out there, children have to leave school at certain times
of the year to work in the gardens. In the whole community there are
only three or four good houses. There are no streets, just lanes and gravel
roads ; the lanes have such names as Socks Lane, Lee's Lane, and so forth.
People live in one- or two-room houses in rows. They keep rather dirty
homes, but that cannot be helped because large families pile up in those two
little rooms. There are very few who have three rooms. There is no
sanitation; just old fashioned privies.

"There were blocks and blocks without light, and they have to go to the
river and bail up water in buckets to use. During the summer the men
invited in the Civic League from the city and drew up a petition for some
lights and a better water supply. They were given immediate attention, and
now they have a few lamp posts and are developing a better water supply."

Alley Dwellers.37 "Housing conditions, especially in the section of the La
Fon School, are very poor. There are some houses divided into twenty one-
room apartments that have no lighting except from the alley. They are
shut off from the front and side streets and are very dark. You find this
type of flat all over the city. Most of the people use charcoal stoves for
cooking and heating, and often holes are burnt in the floor from these, for
they are sometimes merely buckets (galvanized) and some of the holes are
big enough for a person to fall through. There is one toilet for each five
families. All the houses have smoke flues. There is no gas connection.
Some of the rooms are as cheap as $1 or $3 per week. They have no
yards; just the alleyways, and no back yards either. It is a very public
affair ; most of them wash up out on the porch. Often a man comes out

mlbjd.

86 Cited by Mrs. Maude R. Dedeaux, Principal of Lawton School in
Algiers, New Orleans.

87 Cited by Mrs. Irving Evans, Community Center, La Fon-Thomy School,
New Orleans, in interview.

PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF NEGRO HOUSING 21

with his trousers and undershirt on and washes his body there. The women
have to wash out there too. There is no room for privacy at all.

"It is very low, wet and damp in all the yards except in summer. Most
of the gutters are open and all the waste water, and so forth, runs out and
empties into them. They become filled with stagnant water and I have seen
the children fishing out things and sailing boats in this stagnant water.
They empty half of the swimming pool water into it, and there is no proper
outlet for it. Most of the houses leak. The next grade of houses is double
with light from only one side. Each family in this type of house has to
burn lights in the morning and in the afternoon."

The Creoles.38 "Down town from the railroad to Elysian Fields there are
some more desirable houses. A good many Creoles live down there, and
they mix freely with the whites and are able to get better homes than the
Negroes, except the professional Negroes. The masses down town are,
generally speaking, housed better than the masses up town. The down
town section has suffered from lack of improved streets and water, but the
city is now putting in streets and sewerage. There is not much interest
in building and buying in the down town section. The land there is so low
that the foundation has to be built up high to keep out the water. That
is too expensive."

Silver City.89 "In the Thalia-Washington Avenue section the houses
are not old. It is practically a new section which was at one time a city
dump. It is called Silver City. I don't know why they call it that unless it
refers to the settlement's having been built on the top of tin cans. It is now
built up and many own homes there, but there is a rough element, too."

Changing Neighborhoods.40 "Louisiana Avenue at one time was all
white. Now it is white from the river to Dryades and then colored for blocks
and white again. The city never looks into predominantly colored as well as
it does white sections, but we are so mixed up that they often have to do for
both to do for whites. We have some terrible streets, but we have police
protection, lights, sewerage, etc.

"There has been some pushing out of whites in the Magnolia Street sec-
tion. For instance, about six or eight blocks that were entirely white are
now all colored. There are frequently clashes with reference to Negroes
moving into white communities, but there has been no organized movement
since the Segregation Act. There was a feeling that the colored ought not
to have come into this block but nothing organized was done. Occasionally
we have cases where a colored person moves into a white section and is
made to feel that he's not wanted, but there's not much fight in them
(whites) ; usually they move out if they can't put you out, if the feeling
is real strong.

"When I moved into my neighborhood most of the people there were

88 Cited by the Reverend N. A. Holmes, 2307 Bienville, New Orleans, in
interview.

89 Cited by Mrs. W. O. Sazon, Standard Life Insurance Company, New
Orleans, in interview.

40 Cited by Mr. E. A. Perkins, Principal, Danneel School, and by Mrs.
W. O. Sazon, Standard Life Insurance Company, New Orleans.

22 NEGRO HOUSING

white; in fact my next door neighbor was white. That is on Jenner Street
near Magnolia; a white hospital is out there. It has not been more than
two years ago since the colored started in. The houses are not so old. I
don't know why they just started moving out; I know it was not because
of Negroes for there has been one colored family here ever since I can
remember and that family had a two-story double house, with a white
family living in one side. The white hospital is now surrounded on two
sides by colored, but it takes only emergency colored cases."

There are more accurate studies of housing in certain other
cities. The Social Science Department of Fisk University, for ex-
ample, studied 1,000 Negro families in Nashville in 1929 and
1930. Every fifth Negro family in the city was taken in the effort
to get a sample that was fairly representative of the whole. The
prevailing structure was the one-story dwelling and about 60 per
cent of the families lived in these. There was little congestion;
most of the families had been in occupancy a short period. About
half of the houses (529) had running water, and only 15 per cent
had bathtubs. The toilet was outside for 73 per cent of the
houses, and only 19 per cent had modern inside toilets. The rents
were low as compared with northern cities. The median was
$15.51 per month. Congestion was not acute for the majority of
the families, although by so broad a standard as two persons per
sleeping room there was overcrowding in 23 per cent of the
families. Rent increases had occurred during the year in 5 per
cent of the cases.

The Civic Federation of Dallas, Texas, studied 1,245 Negro
homes in 1924 and 1925 and found, by a rough classificatioa of
these dwellings, 15 per cent falling within a desirable class desig-
nated as "A," 33.8 per cent in a class described as "good but lack-
ing in some particulars," 31 per cent "barely habitable," and 19.2
per cent "unfit for habitation." The classification, while not sup-
ported by exact physical measurements, provides a reasonably ade-
quate index, at least to gross differences in the habitability of
Negro homes. The study points out further that "less than 50 per
cent of the houses now occupied by Negroes are reasonably fit
for good family life, while 20 per cent of the houses ought actually
to be destroyed." 41

41 Survey of Negro Housing in Dallas, Texas, The Dallas Committee on
iterracial Cooperation, Civic Federation of Dallas, 1924-1925. (Manuscript.)

PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF NEGRO HOUSING 23

In Houston, Texas, Jesse O. Thomas 42 of the National Urban
League observed the absence of drainage, lights, and paving in
the Negro sections, along with the poorly constructed and dilapi-
dated houses. This need was most conspicuous in the lower-wage-
earning groups. The fact that there are types of homes of better
grade in Houston as in other southern cities is obvious in the
numbers of such dwellings owned in some other sections of the
city.

Richmond, Virginia, has had the benefit of three studies of
Negro housing within the past few years. The latest of these
was a reflection of a growing civic interest in this aspect of local
social problems, and had as its auspice the Richmond News-
Leader *3 Although in this study, made by a competent student
of social science, the small-income groups were more generally
covered than other scattered Negro individuals of larger means,
practically the same processes of inheriting physical condition of
the bulk of Negro dwellings are revealed. There was found an
average of less than four rooms to each family, and an average
age of these houses of 37.9 years. Four of each ten houses had
leaking roofs, and three of each ten were in a state of advanced
dilapidation. Leigh Street, which has long been the location of
many of the refined homes of Negroes, is filled with large old brick
houses originally owned by Richmond's white aristocracy many
years before the Negroes took occupancy. In blocks of this street,
as on some of the intersecting streets, there is a manifest effort to
sustain the life of these dwellings of which they have acquired
ownership, in the planting of gardens and shrubbery. There is
at least one new residence section for Negroes in the vicinity of
the Virginia Union University.

The general picture, however, which includes all sections, reveals
that at least half of the dwellings are in various stages of dilapi-
dation; that less than one of every eight houses has plumbing
facilities inside the house; that but one in three has a water con-
nection inside the house ; and that 14 per cent have neither kitchen
nor bathroom.

The study was able to check and corroborate an earlier study

42 Thomas, Jesse O., A Study of the Social Welfare Status of the Negroes
in Houston, Texas, New York, National Urban League, 1929.

43 Corson, John J. Ill, "Negro Housing in Richmond," Richmond News-
Leader, September 21 to October 1, 1931.

24 NEGRO HOUSING

made by Charles L. Knight of the University of Virginia in
1927,44 and another by the Richmond Council of Social Agencies.45
The curious conclusion was reached by Mr. Corson, as a result
of the findings of these studies, that the conditions observed were
due to a relative decline in the Negro population since 1880. The
ambitious Negro family, it was thought, moved away rather than
face the handicap of uninhabitable and unattractive living sur-
roundings and poor wages. Regarding municipal attention to
Negro areas, the earlier report of the Richmond Council of Social
Agencies is specific, both on the matter of the actual neglect and
the attitude of the Negroes toward it.

"On the broad question of the general difficulties of Negro life in Rich-
mond, as already suggested, 916 different families listed 1,630 difficulties.
Ahead of everything else came the criticism of the houses they lived in and
the condition of their streets. There was a total of 707 such criticisms.
Three hundred and ninety-two, or over one-half, directed their criticisms to
the condition of their streets and alleys. The language used varied, but it
all meant the same thing : Richmond Negroes feel that the streets in their
sections are 'dirty,' 'bad,' 'muddy,' 'unpaved,' 'dark,' 'poorly lighted.' The
Knight study, page 53, previously referred to, says, 'In Fulton, especially,
the condition of the streets is such as would not be tolerated in a white
community.' The summary of the condition of streets in that district, com-
piled from block sheets made by the Survey field workers, reads: 'The
streets of one-half of the blocks had never been paved. . . . Over one-third
of the blocks surveyed are without sidewalks. In wet weather it was noted
by the surveyors that mud makes some of the streets and sidewalks almost
impassable. In some of the blocks, dirt paths run along paved or partially
paved or oiled roads. A large portion of the district is without curbs or
gutters.' " "

The southern city surveys offer an almost unvarying picture.
In Knoxville,47 Tennessee, 34 per cent of the Negro dwellings
were without sewerage connections, and in Louisville,48 Kentucky,

"Knight, Charles Louis, Negro Housing in Certain Virginia Cities (Rich-
mond, Lynchburg and Charlottesville), (University of Virginia, Phelps-
Stokes Fellowship Paper No. 8), Richmond, The William Byrd Press, 1927.

45 "The Negro in Richmond, Virginia," Report of the Negro Welfare Sur-
vey Committee, Richmond Council of Social Agencies, 1929.

"Ibid.

*7 Daves, J. H., A Social Study of the Colored Population of Knoxville,
Tennessee, Knoxville, The Free Colored Library, 1926.

"Ragland, J. M., A Study of 400 Negro Houses, Louisville, Ky., Louis-
ville Urban League, 1924.

PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF NEGRO HOUSING 25

about the same proportion of neglect was noted. Tulsa,49 Okla-
homa, has, perhaps, the highest concentration of Negro population
of any city, North or South. About 98 per cent of its Negroes live
in a single "black belt." In 1921 it was a scene of a disastrous race
riot. The complete separation of the Negro area, unprotected
by the dwellings of white residents, made it possible for a mob
to destroy the entire section, comprising thirty city blocks, by fire.
At present, numbers of Negroes live in the servant quarters of
white residential sections. The rebuilt houses in the new Negro
section represent a motley array of structures from improvised
shelters to brick apartment houses and hotels. However, the city
has not extended lighting to this area, nor any useful amount of its
sanitary measures and utilities. Washington, D. C.,50 may be con-
sidered virtually a southern city, although it is the National Capital.
The original plan of the city provided for wide and deep building
lots. As the population grew and land values increased, the front
yards were used for solid rows of dwellings and the deep back
yards for cheaper buildings facing the alleys. While they were
new, they were called courts. Negro population increase sug-
gested a use for these and they were extended throughout the city.
"So closely have the terms Alleys and Negroes been associated,"
says the author of The Housing of Negroes in Washington, D. C.,
"that in the minds of most of the older citizens they are insepa-
rable." In 1908 the police department enumerated 261 alleys with a
population of 14,237 Negroes and 1,614 white persons. They lived
under the odium of such names as Tin Can Alley, Church Row,
Coon Alley, Hog Alley, Moonshine Alley. The residents of Goat
Alley made an appeal to the City Commissioners to have their
homes designated by a more respectable name.51 Besides the alleys
are two types of homes: Those built for Negroes and those in-
herited in the customary manner from white persons. The first
are poorly constructed and exorbitantly priced. Real estate men
contend that for Negro buyers they must be so.

49 An Elementary Study of Negro Life in Tulsa, Oklahoma, New York,
National Urban League, 1927.

50 Jones, William Henry, The Housing of Negroes in Washington, D. C.,
Washington, Howard University Press, 1929.

61 Ibid.

26 NEGRO HOUSING

Summary of Studies of Physical Aspects of Negro Housing

Urban Negro Housing. Summarizing the physical features of
urban Negro housing, North and South, these observations seem
warranted :

1. The recent migration to cities has increased Negro populations more
rapidly than the neighborhoods to which they have been restricted have
expanded.

2. The areas which have become Negro areas are inevitably advanced
in age and, for the most part, in various stages of dilapidation.

3. Congestion has followed, at first, as a phase of city growth and has con-
tinued as a phase of race relations.

4. This congestion, moreover, comes about largely from conditions over
which Negroes have little control.52

5. The Negro population pays, on the average, a higher rental than white
families of the same income level, for similar dwellings.

6. Adjustment to high rentals forces the taking in of lodgers to pay the
rent, and these lodgers, in turn, become the excuse for further rent increases.

7. The greater the isolation of Negro sections, the greater the neglect
of these areas by municipalities.

8. There have been few attempts to provide adequate new housing for
this element of the population.

9. The squalor and dilapidation associated with Negro areas, while in a
measure due to the habits of the occupants, are nevertheless encouraged by
the conditions themselves.

10. There are few inspections of these areas and few corrective factors
even where sanitary codes are in force.

11. The segregation of Negro areas is indiscriminate and forces Negroes
of all tastes and economic ability into an association which is neither natural
nor generally wholesome.

12. There are, despite the general condition, shades of difference in the
condition of Negro-occupied properties, and significant differences between
Negro residences in each locality, particularly when some of these dwellings
are owned.

13. The degrees of housing pressure vary among the cities, as do the
patterns of segregation, but the basic relationship of the Negroes to the
population as a whole remains the same.

14. There is more congestion in the North than in the South, but the
extent of tolerance of gross deficiencies in sanitation is greater in the South
than in the North.

15. There appears at present no serious effort in either section to correct
these conditions.

16. The housing need of Negroes, in its physical aspects, divides itself
between :

B2Woofter, T. J. Jr. and Associates, Negro Problems in Cities, Garden
City, N. Y., Doubleday, Doran and Company, Inc., 1928.

v—vV.^- "V." •:*'; «, ,.-•*'•. * J^SA-

Courtesy of Housing Committee, Photograph by Richard Carlylc Ball

Washington Council of Social Agencies

Unsanitary living conditions for Negroes in "Goat Alley," Washington, D. C.
The insecure railings on the front stoop, the clutter and confusion of back-
yards and the unsightly filled land next to the houses should be noted, as
well as the expanse of windowless wall.

Photograph by Richard Carlyle Ball

Fire risk, insanitation, poor repair, clutter and confusion are all illustrated
in this photograph of Logan's Court, Washington, D. C.

PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF NEGRO HOUSING 27

(a) Requirement for adequate new low-priced dwellings for low-income
groups of Negroes, and

(b) Opportunities for Negroes of higher-income levels to secure or erect
dwellings in more desirable sections of the city.

Rural Negro Housing. The majority of the Negro population
is still a rural population, although the proportions are decreasing
with recent changes in agriculture. This phase of housing for
Negroes centers itself almost exclusively in the South. Exceed-
ingly few studies are available in this field. A first generalization,
however, is offered in the figures which distinguish classes of
rural Negroes. In 1920, there were 6,661,132 Negroes53 living
in rural areas. The agricultural census of 1925 indicates that of
831,455 Negro farmers 23.4 per cent are owners and 76.5 ten-
ants. Since it appears to be a rule that superior houses go with
ownership, the major housing problem is that which has to do with
the dwellings of the tenants.

The rates of ownership vary between sections, and there may
be home ownership in rural sections, apart from farm ownership.
Little attention has been given, in the past, to particular condi-
tions of Negro rural dwellings. The condition has usually been
below the standard scale employed in measuring housing ade-
quacy, and there has been recourse simply to emotional expressions
of one sort or the other, but usually bad. The income of the ten-
ant farmer has been so extremely small and the profits of agri-
culture, generally, so meager, that little has been expected in the
way of providing for tenants more than the familiar two- or three-
room, unpainted, or white-washed cabin quarters with its char-
acteristic "dog run," a sheltered porch dividing the house. Giles
A. Hubert studied housing and ownership problems of Negro
farmers in Okfuskee County, Oklahoma,54 in 1931 and observed
that both owner-operators and landlords have found it difficult to
obtain funds to improve their houses in any permanent way. One
description of rural housing of Negroes is offered in the study
of the Children's Bureau of the United States Department of
Labor, of children in cotton-growing areas of Texas.

"Among Negro families the three- or four-room house was most common.
Practically all were one-story frame buildings, with no basement and no

63 The 1930 figures were not available at the time of the preparation of this
report.

54 Hubert, Giles A., A Short Study of Housing and Otvnership Problems
of Farmers in Boley Community, Okfuskee County, Oklahoma, 1931.

28 NEGRO HOUSING

foundation other than pillars or wooden blocks. Few houses had any modern
conveniences. In Hill County most of these were heated by stoves, but in
Rusk County 89 per cent of the white and 82 per cent of the Negro families
depended upon a fireplace for heating. Among Negro families in Rusk
County only 7 per cent, and only 2 per cent of the Negro families in Hill
County, reported water in the house or on the porch. None of the Negro
families in either county had a sink."

Woof ter 55 studied Negro families on St. Helena Island, an old
plantation community, in 1930, and of their housing he says:

"The majority of these first houses were one- or two-room cabins with
stick and mud chimney. There was a scattering of larger houses embel-
lished with bay windows and front porches. Under the constant pressure
of Penn School for better homes the one-room houses have gradually dis-
appeared and now only a few of this type are occupied by the older people.

"The next type was the two-room house with a 'jump-up'. The 'jump-
up' corresponds, on a smaller scale, to the second story rooms placed under
a bungalow roof . . . ."

"The average house is now 3.3 rooms . . . ."

". . . About 20 per cent of the households average more than two people
per room."

The Department of Social Science of Fisk University has con-
ducted studies of the Negro population in two southern counties
and one small town area in the South.56 One of the rural studies
was of a county in Tennessee, and the other of a county in Ala-
bama. In the Tennessee county 56 per cent of the dwellings were
over twenty years old, 75 per cent fell in the class of disrepair
which included leaking roofs, broken windows, doors and steps.
Half of these homes had open privies, and of the 748 dwellings
only 12 had sanitary toilets and 158 had sanitary pits. The re-
mainder had open privies, or no provision for disposal of waste
at all.

In the Alabama county, half of the families lived in one- and
two-room cabins, and 28 per cent in three-room cabins. Twenty-
six per cent of the cabins were over thirty years old and 74 per
cent over sixteen years old. There were few windows, only board
blinds which were kept closed at night. Three hundred and ten had
open privies and 296 had no provision for sewage disposal.

In Kingsport, Tennessee, a small town, there were 21 owners

86 Woofter, T. J. Jr., Black Yeomanry, New York, Henry Holt and Com-
pany, 1930, p. 214.

56 Johnson, Charles S., Negro Rural Life Studies, Department of Social
Science, Fisk University, Nashville, Tenn.

PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF NEGRO HOUSING 29

among 133 Negro families. In the 133 dwellings there were 35
which could be considered in good repair.

In the southern cotton mill towns the Negro housing is usually
an unkempt adjunct. Paul Blanshard 57 describes the general as-
pect of these sections in a brief reference :

"At the edge of many of the southern mill villages is 'nigger town,' a short
stretch of road flanked by small, unpainted cottages which have the general
appearance of being run down at the heels. Its houses are usually without
lights and running water. . . ."

Some of the dwellings of rural Negro owners, of course, reach
a high standard, and improvements are noted both in value and
care of their homes. T. C. Walker 58 points to the increase in the
amount of taxes paid by Negroes on personal property during a
period of fifty years:

"Fifty years ago the Negroes of these (24) Tidewater counties owned
but little personal property. Their furniture consisted of old chests, boxes,
and roughly made bureaus, bedsteads and the like. Today such property
as they then had, say, perhaps, one feather bed and two pillows usually held
by each family, would not be assessed at any value. . . . By this report
... (of the State Auditor) these 24 counties pay taxes on personal prop-
erty valued at $1,771,358."

Other individual instances of rural housing self-help are cited
from The Negro Year Book:

" . . . W. R. Sarratt of Cherokee County, Georgia, owns 84 acres of land.
His house, which cost him $6,000, is equipped with a Delco lighting system.
He paid $40 per acre for his land. It was 'run down/ By taking care of
his terraces, deep plowing and rotation of crops, he has brought it up to a
high state of cultivation. He raises his own corn, wheat, oats and meat.
He has bought no flour in four years and eats wheat bread all the time; he
has bought no corn since before the World War. He keeps one cow, two
mules, a Fordson and a Ford touring car . . ,"69

"The flavor of romance is not lacking in the recent sale of the Old Phil
Cook plantation, in Lee County, to a Negro who has been a tenant on its
broad acres for 18 years.

"The plantation embraces 1,400 acres, and on it its owner, General Phil
Cook, lived for many years. He represented the Third District in Congress,
then became Georgia's Secretary of State, holding the latter office till his

67 Blanshard, Paul, Labor in Southern Cotton Mills, New York, New Re-
public, Inc., 1927, p. 67.

58 "Development in the Tidewater Counties of Virginia," Annals of The
American Academy of Political and Social Science, 1913, Vol. 49, p. 138.

59 Work, Monroe N., Editor, The Negro Year Book, Tuskegee, Ala., 1931,
p. 120.

30 NEGRO HOUSING

death. He was succeeded as Secretary of State by his son and namesake, who
had been born on the Lee County plantation, and who in turn held the office
in which his father had died till his own death some years ago.

"The Cook place was sold at auction for the purpose of effecting a divi-
sion among the heirs. The sale attracted a large crowd, but the bidding
was not spirited, owing to the fact that large plantations are not now much
in demand. The Negro tenant to whom the place was knocked down ob-
tained it for $16,000. He is John Murphy, a practical and successful farmer
who is highly thought of in his community."®

The Rural Section of the Group on Physical Aspects of Negro
Housing under the chairmanship of Mrs. Florence C. Williams,
in consideration of the paucity of actual studies of this situation
in the important southern area, attempted to assemble general
facts concerning trends in rural housing, through the medium of
rural organizations, farm demonstrators and individuals in posi-
tion to supply such data. It was understood that the conditions
of such an inquiry, with respect to time and facilities, would pre-
clude the use of methods yielding exact measurement, but these
trends were regarded as important to know, in the absence of
more detailed studies. Accordingly, in Florida, a cooperating
group was organized under the chairmanship of Mrs. Ruth W.
Atkinson, with Cyrus T. Greene of the Urban League as secretary.
Working through the Florida Farmers' Cooperative Association,
with headquarters at the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical
College in Tallahassee, and assisted by the State Agricultural Ex-
tension Service and Vocational Educational Department, they ap-
proached local rural communities in the state.

According to this report:

"For the State of Florida the average size of family is 4.2. The number
varies slightly in the case of certain counties, in some of which it may be
more and in others less. The repair of tenant houses may or may not be
kept up and in either case it may be done by the tenant or landlord and in
some cases by both. For the most part tenant houses on farms in Florida
are scattered. Less than 25 per cent were shown as grouped or quartered
in the twenty counties given in this study.

"The water supply for tenants, in most cases, is more than one hundred
feet away from the home. Very little attention is paid to the screening of
windows in the state, but toilet facilities are provided for practically each
home. Limited improvements in these particulars have been noticed.

"There is a division of opinion in the matter of segregation of Negro
farmers. Depreciation in the values of property is seen as a handicap in

90 Ibid.

PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF NEGRO HOUSING

Table II. Showing Population and Home Ownership In
Florida Counties

(From Federal Census, 1930)

Name of County

Per Cent
of Rural
Negro
Dwellers
Who Own
Homes

Value of
Land and
Buildings

Per Cent
of Negro
Population
in County

Negroes
in County
According
to 1930
Census

Ala.ch.ti3.

$843,483

44 6

15,313

Columbia

262 , 245

39.6

5,790

Escambia

5 5

74,810

13,924

Gadsden

468,380

56.8

16,976

Hamilton

122,970

3,779

Hillsboro

190,050

18.9

28,983

Jefferson .

398,357

9,120

Jackson

21.4

772,764

39.3

12,551

Leon

454,270

58.7

13,788

Levy

109,981

38.2

7,561

Madison

7.5

223,440

52.5

8,203

Mation

27 5

749 , 565

49.1

14,513

Orange

1 5

372,395

24.6

12,226

Palm Beach

54,850

32.4

16,760

St. Johns. .

20,750

35.8

6,689

Seminole

5.5

115,600

8,431

Suwannee

80,420

30.2

3,215

Sumter

222,765

33.9

5,336

Washington

100,000

41.1

2,574

Walton

15 1

67 470

18.7

2,724

segregation; insurance protection is more difficult to secure; loan values on
such property are practically nihil and the lack of good roads and facilities
are major handicaps; but on the other hand, community groups are con-
sidered an advantage for educational and religious purposes.

"The purchase of Negro homes in rural communities is limited. The plan
of the Simmons-Whittington bill introduced in the last Congress ^ is de-
signed to finance the reclaiming of abandoned farms, and in the case of
Florida, it would accelerate the present plans of agricultural extension work.

"The compulsory laws in the rural sections for screening windows should
be resorted to after an intensive campaign of education regarding the mat-
ter of rural sanitation, which should be carried forward by rural, civic and
welfare organizations. Such a procedure would greatly facilitate the under-
standing of these problems and Negro farms and homes could then be main-
tained at a higher assessed valuation and become more productive.

"In some cases Negroes who own farms and homes are assessed at a
higher value of taxation than white citizens in the same community. Then,
too, in other cases Negroes are automatically restricted from purchase by

81 71st Congress, 1st Session, H. R. 1677, S. 412.

32 NEGRO HOUSING

requirements set by those in authority. Taxes are sometimes raised in order
to discourage ownership in some localities on improved highways. A few
cases of incendiarism have been noted and other illegal efforts have been
made to prevent Negroes from improving rural homes.

"Of late years a one-crop system has been regarded as a curse to the
Negro farmers and the boll weevil has been considered by some a 'godsend'
in educating farmers to a point of better appreciation for diversified farm-
ing. This has made possible an increase in rural Negro home ownership
as indicated by the tendency on the part of land owners to sell off small
tracts of land to Negro purchasers."

The section attempted to secure certain general information
through questionnaires distributed in ten southern states. These
were directed to institutions, state and county officials, and a large
list of white and Negro planters. Inasmuch as these question-
naires requested summary observations concerning certain local
communities, the returns can be taken only as the impressions of
persons regarded as well informed on local questions. According
to the memorandum prepared on the basis of 308 returns, it
appears that the structure of tenant homes is changing slowly
from the well-known but archaic log cabin to small frame shelters,
and that with the exception of South Carolina the tendency seems
to be to scatter these tenant houses rather than group them, as
formerly, in quarters. Water supply was extremely faulty in about
half of these areas, and although some form of toilet is provided
there were no cases which indicated an attempt to introduce im-
provements over the minimal fact of convenience. A large per-
centage of the tenants now raise gardens and chickens. The size
of tenant dwellings was three to four rooms, while the size of
family ranged around five. Newly built dwellings tended to be
larger than the older dwellings.

Opinions of persons questioned on various phases of Negro
housing were included in this memorandum:

"The ability of Negroes to finance the purchase of rural homes seems
to vary somewhat in the different states and even in different parts of the
same state. In Mississippi 70 per cent stated that Negroes can purchase
rural homes on the same basis as whites, 30 per cent giving a negative
reply. Arkansas landowners and a few tenants gave the same answer, as
did 14 out of 25 Negro teachers in Virginia. The majority of the tenants
in Arkansas and ten Negro teachers stated that they cannot. In North
Carolina it is very generally stated that they can, while in Tennessee, Ken-
tucky, and South Carolina they cannot. The obstacles given are the large
initial payment, high interest rates, and indifference of bankers and loan

PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF NEGRO HOUSING 33

associations to Negro business. South Carolina replies that white business
men and county officials find the Negro buyer a greater risk, particularly
in the coast counties, and that he is not inclined to stick to his bargain.
Racial prejudice was given as an obstacle to home ownership in a small per-
centage of the replies.

"Ninety per cent of the Kentucky replies stated that the rural Negro
cannot obtain home insurance on the same basis as whites, the reasons given
being that the property is not kept in repair, and that buildings are poorly
constructed and generally a poor risk. In South Carolina the whites respond-
ing did not know and the Negroes nearly all answered 'no/ the reasons
being very generally the same. Racial discrimination was given as the chief
reason in Mississippi, the owners invariably answering 'no.' A majority of
the white informants evaded the question. The situation seems better in
Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, and North Carolina where
60 per cent replied that they can obtain home insurance on the same basis
as whites as against 40 per cent in the negative, and in Tennessee 80 per
cent gave a favorable reply."

Summary of Physical Aspects of Negro Housing in the
South. The judgment of members of the Group on Physical As-
pects of Negro Housing regarding the general features of this
housing in the South is thus stated :

"In the study of the physical aspects of Negro housing in the South,
it was found that Negro housing in general was inadequate. On the out-
skirts of many large cities, Negroes are found living generally in shanties
built usually of wood, always unpainted, out of repair, squalid, lacking
many modern conveniences and unsupplied with sewerage, running water,
and indoor toilets. It was found that during the last fifteen years there has
been a very marked movement of Negroes from rural to urban communities
in the South. This movement has not been confined entirely to Negroes,
however, and it is primarily a result of a combination of factors, first among
which is a desire to leave the farm and a hope to earn a larger income.
Other factors moving them cityward have been the better educational facili-
ties for their children, better churches, a little better housing, and a better
social grouping.

"The migrant Negroes found in the cities houses which were not much bet-
ter than the ones from which they came. In most of the Negro districts in
the cities these houses present a particularly ramshackle appearance. They
are situated almost always along the railroad tracks or in swampy, isolated
districts. The streets in the districts of this lower economic group are very
seldom paved, nor are the roads kept in good condition. Most of the houses
are dilapidated, with loose boards and sagging porches. Three- or four-room
cottages of the 'shot-gun type' predominate. Sewerage, water, electric lights
or gas' are usually absent. Schools are always far away. The use of kero-
sene lamps in most of these homes prevails, and it is not uncommon to see
a family of father, mother and two or three children gathered around a table
upon which is a small kerosene lamp. With the aid of this dim glow the

34 NEGRO HOUSING

parents are trying to read the newspapers and the children are trying to do
their school work. These places are usually heated by open grates and the
cooking is done on ranges or over oil stoves. Overcrowding always prevails.

"As the Negro moves up in the economic scale, he moves his family into
the next higher residential area. This is generally an interstitial area where
the homes are lighted with electricity or gas and heated by either coal stoves
or by what are known as 'heatrolas/ The construction of the houses is
usually of wood and brick and sometimes of stone. The walls of the rooms
are usually painted and the ceilings calcimined. Separate dining-rooms and
separate kitchens also prevail. The professional type of Negro and others
who have comparatively large incomes usually purchase property in out-
lying districts of southern towns or in neighborhoods in the main occupied
by white people. In many cases these homes are built for the Negro owners.
They range from the small bungalow type of residence to the large house.
In most cases they are heated by furnaces, always painted, and often sur-
rounded by yards with shrubbery and flowers.

"In view of the terrible neglect shown by most southern cities with ref-
erence to Negro housing, especially in blighted areas, it was the conclusion
of the committee that in all the cities of the South, the sections in which
Negroes live in large numbers should be as desirably located with regard
to topography as is the white area. The area should be provided with all
the municipal improvements such as paving, water, sewerage, gas or elec-
tricity, fire and police protection. The greatest source for the development
of these different types of service would be new building laws in most south-
ern towns and the setting up of public machinery for city zoning. In addition
to this, it is the committee's thought that public controls within the group
itself should be established; namely, the organization of agencies which
would create public opinion working toward the protection of the districts
from immoral characters and inadequate housing. These agencies should
also urge the proper conduct of municipal departments in the prompt re-
moval and disposal of refuse, the condemnation and razing of buildings dan-
gerous to life and limb, and efficient police and fire protection."

CHAPTER II
NEGRO HOUSING AND THE COMMUNITY

Segregation Ordinances and Private Covenants

One factor which may be regarded as the source of the special
stress of Negro housing difficulties is racial segregation. It is,
perhaps, natural that this policy should be set as an ideal policy
of biracialism, as a result of the special circumstances of Negro
history. In the United States the Negroes, in some measure, have
adjusted themselves to it. » They have set up their social institu-
tions and foci of everyday interests in the areas to which they
have found themselves restricted. It is inevitable, however, that
abuses inherent in such an artificial alignment of society should
follow, and that there should develop, within the Negro group, as a
normal phase of its development, increasing numbers of families
with the desire for something better.

The common belief seems to be that Negroes are a single,
homogeneous group, adaptable alike to the same types of en-
vironment; that the deteriorated areas, inherited by the low-in-
come groups of Negroes as a result of their poverty, are alone
theirs by right of race ; that they are "happier in their own neigh-
borhoods," and for that reason require no interference ; that any
attempt on their part to escape this sordidness is prompted by a
desire to live socially among white persons. Public opinion has
been strong on this question for many years, and the degree of
segregation which obtains at present is impressed by the force of
tradition and of such economic necessities as have already been
referred to. In northern centers economic factors have been
strongest in effecting segregation; in southern sections racial
factors have, perhaps, been strongest. The border states and cities,
which have represented a mixture of attitudes and compulsions,
have been most active in attempting to crystallize the ideal of com-
plete separation in housing by legislation, as it has been crystallized
throughout most of the South in transportation, in the schools,
and in many other public relations.

The long, though ill-defined, policy of separation of the white
and Negro residence districts in the cities of the country, North

36 NEGRO HOUSING

and West as well as South, was first codified in a law in the fall of
1910, when the City of Baltimore, Maryland, took the initiative in
devising special legislation to enforce separation.1 This legisla-
tion, the so-called West Segregation Ordinance, followed popular
agitation over the moving of a Negro family into a block which
was at that time inhabited exclusively by white persons. The
ordinance, very crudely drawn, was declared invalid in 1911, but
another one was passed immediately. It also was declared uncon-
stitutional. In 1913 a third ordinance was introduced, and the
final decision in the Court of Appeals was withheld, pending a
decision of the Supreme Court.2 However, from the first sugges-
tion of relief for this question through summary legislation there
followed similar ordinances in Winston-Salem and Mooresville,
North Carolina, in 1912, and, in 1913, ordinances in Madisonville,
Kentucky; Birmingham, Alabama; Atlanta, Georgia; Richmond
and Norfolk, Virginia; and in Asheville, North Carolina. In the
following year a segregation ordinance was passed in Louisville,
Kentucky. In 1916 St. Louis, Missouri, Dallas, Texas, and sev-
eral other cities in Texas and Oklahoma passed ordinances aim-
ing at the same result. These ordinances were upheld by the courts
of the States of North Carolina, Georgia, and Missouri. Finally,
the Louisville case reached the Supreme Court of the United
States on November 5, 1917, arid after two hearings it was unan-
imously declared unconstitutional.3

Although the Louisville decision temporarily checked the spread
of these local ordinances, and prompted evasions of the uncon-
stitutional features in private agreements between white landlords
and real estate agents, several southern cities have attempted, by
further changes in the legal wording of the bill, to secure a re-
versal of the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States.
New Orleans passed a residential segregation ordinance in 1924;
during the next two years other acts were passed by Indianapolis,
Indiana, and Norfolk, Virginia. Both the Indianapolis and Nor-
folk acts were defeated in the lower courts, but the New Orleans
law, after a defeat in the lower court, was carried to the State

1 Stephenson, Gilbert T., "The Segregation of the White and Negro Races
in Cities," The South Atlantic Quarterly, January, 1914, Vol. 13, pp. 1-18.
- Ibid.
3 The Crisis, December, 1917, Vol. 15, p. 69.

NEGRO HOUSING AND THE COMMUNITY 37

Supreme Court by its white advocates, where they actually secured
a reversal of the decision. The National Association for the Ad-
vancement of Colored People carried the case again to the United
States Supreme Court, and on the basis of the Louisville decision
succeeded in having the New Orleans enactment declared uncon-
stitutional. However, as late as February, 1930, a judge in the
Superior Court in Los Angeles, California, handed down a de-
cision restraining a Negro woman from occupying property which
she held in a neighborhood in which no other Negroes resided,
and from aiding or abetting other non-Caucasians in occupying
these premises.4 The history of these enactments provides an
index to the strength of popular feeling regarding the complete
segregation of Negro residence areas.

Patterns of Legal Segregation Attempted

Judge Gilbert Stephenson, who is responsible for the first im-
portant study of race distinctions in American law,5 has defined
four types of segregation ordinances. The first type he calls the
Baltimore type, which was copied by Greenville, South Carolina,
and Atlanta, Georgia. Its chief characteristic was that it applied
only to all-white and all-Negro blocks and did not undertake to
legislate for blocks upon which both white people and Negroes
lived. The second type of ordinance is illustrated by the Vir-
ginia law. Under this statute any city or town so desiring might
divide its territory into "segregation districts"; designate which
districts are to be for white people and which for Negroes, and
make it unlawful for white people to live in Negro districts and
for Negroes to live in white districts. Roanoke, Virginia, took
advantage of this law and divided its territory into segregation
districts. Portsmouth, Virginia, followed. Previously, all legis-
lation had been limited to municipal ordinances until Virginia ac-
tually passed a state segregation law. A similar bill was intro-
duced into the General Assembly of North Carolina, but failed.
A third type of segregation legislation was first adopted as a local
ordinance by Richmond, Virginia. It was copied by Ashland,

4 See The Defender, February 8, 1930, p. 1.

5 Stephenson, Gilbert T., Race Distinctions in American Law, New York,
D. Appleton and Company, 1910.

38 NEGRO HOUSING

Virginia, and Winston-Salem, North Carolina. This type of
ordinance undertook to legislate for the whole city, declaring a
block white whereon a majority of the residents were white,
and colored whereon a majority of the people were colored.

The preamble to the Richmond ordinance includes many of the
rationalizations of the policy, which are not often articulated, and
very definitely suggests the influence of the temporary hysteria
over racial intermixture, which has never appeared to be related
to residence sites. Further, it sought to give to the ordinance
both the legal aspect and nondiscrimination and the emotional
weight of an earlier enactment. Its application was referred to
those forbidden to intermarry. The ordinance was clothed in ex-
pressions of solicitude for the public welfare.

BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF RICH-
MOND:

1. That in order to preserve the general welfare, peace, racial integrity,
morals, and social good order of the city of Richmond, it shall be unlawful
for any person to use as a residence any building on any street between in-
tersecting streets, where the majority of residences on such streets are oc-
cupied by those with whom said person is forbidden to intermarry by sec-
tion 5 of the Act of the General Assembly of Virginia entitled: "An Act
to Preserve Racial Integrity," and approved March 20, 1924, or as the same
may be hereafter amended; provided, that nothing in this ordinance shall
affect the right, existing at the time of the passage of this ordinance in any
person, to use any such building as a residence.

2. Any person violating the provisions of this ordinance shall be liable to
a fine of not less than one hundred dollars nor more than five hundred
dollars, recoverable before the police justices of the city of Richmond as the
case may be, each day's violation to constitute a separate offense.

3. That all ordinances or parts of ordinances in conflict with the or-
dinance be and the same are hereby repealed.

4. This ordinance shall be in force from its passage.'

The ordinance did not apply to white business enterprises oper-
ating within Negro neighborhoods.

The fourth type was the Norfolk type, which was more general
in its application than any of the others. It applied to mixed as
well as all-white and all-Negro blocks, and determined the color
of the block by the ownership as well as by the occupancy of the
property.

The urge to legislation was extended from cities to rural sec-

e See The Crisis, April, 1929, Vol. 36, No. 4.

NEGRO HOUSING AND THE COMMUNITY 39

tions. Mr. Clarence Poe of North Carolina (editor of the Pro-
gressive Farmer) sponsored the proposal :

"That wherever the greater part of the land acreage in any given district
that may be laid off is owned by one race a majority of the voters in such a
district should have the right to say, if they wish, that in future no land
shall be sold to a person of a different race — provided such action is ap-
proved or allowed (as being justified by considerations of the peace, protec-
tion and social life of the community) by a reviewing judge or board of
county commissioners." 7

Practically all of the ordinances attempted to avoid illegal speci-
fication of a discriminatory racial factor by making the statute
apply to white and black alike, and by insisting that the purpose
was to bring about better relations between the races and keep
down disturbances. The purposes of the Baltimore, Atlanta, and
Greenville ordinances were stated as a desire to preserve peace,
prevent conflict and ill-feeling between races, and to promote the
general welfare of the city. The preamble to the Virginia statute
read:

"Whereas the preservation of the public morals, public health and public
order in the cities and towns of this Commonwealth is endangered by the

residence of white and colored people in close proximity to one another,
» s

All of these attempted ordinances have occurred in southern
states and states bordering on the South, including California in
the far West.

The Louisville ordinance was the first, after several years of
legal segregation, to reach the Supreme Court of the United
States.9 Like most of the other ordinances it had been designed
"to prevent conflict and ill-feeling between the white and colored
races in the City of Louisville, and to preserve the public peace and
promote the general welfare," . . . etc. The Court held that it was
invalid because it ran counter to the provision of the 14th amend-
ment that "no state shall make or enforce any laws which may
abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United
States." It held further that the City of Louisville violated the
provision that no state shall "deprive any person of life, liberty, or

T Poe, Clarence, "Rural Land Segregation Between Whites and Negroes :
A Reply to Mr. Stephenson," The South Atlantic Quarterly, July, 1914,
pp. 207-212.

8 Stephenson, Gilbert T., "The Segregation of the White and Negro Races
in Cities," The South Atlantic Quarterly, January, 1914, Vol. 13, pp. 1-18.

9 Buchanan v. Warley, 245 U. S. 60.

40 NEGRO HOUSING

property without due process of law, or deny to any person within
its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." "Property," the
Court held, "is more than the mere thing which a person owns ; it
is elementary that it includes the right to acquire, use, and dis-
pose of it." Moreover, it could not be defended on the grounds
of the "police power" of the state, for the police power "cannot
justify the passage of a law or ordinance which runs counter to the
limitations of the Federal Constitution." On the matter of pro-
moting public peace by preventing race conflicts, the Court de-
creed that "desirable as this is, and important as is the preserva-
tion of public peace, this aim cannot be accomplished by laws or
ordinances which deny rights created or protected by the Federal
Constitution."

One point of view as expressed in the press, following this deci-
sion, accepted the decision as a means of preventing new "ghettos"
and "slums," while another wing of opinion observed, still hope-
fully, that "what the city cannot do by formal enactment it may
be able to accomplish justly and fairly by other means."

The failure of these attempts, thus far, to fix the residence
boundaries of Negroes by law has, no doubt, been due more to
the inescapable wording of the Constitution than to the choice of
an active element of the white population. This is nowhere more
evident than in the continued efforts to accomplish this segrega-
tion under various arrangements which evade the safeguards of
the Constitution.10

Restrictive Compacts and Covenants

What custom accomplishes by way of controlling racial resi-
dence sites in many cities of the South, and the segregation or-
dinances sought to do for the border states, the practice of enter-
ing into covenants to exclude Negroes from certain areas accom-
plishes in areas of the North. For, whereas it is now uncon-

10 It should be pointed out that on the matter of domiciliary segregation
there is not the unanimous approval even of the southern white people. The
wealthier classes, for example, view these laws with less concern. The
"evils" are of greatest concern to such white persons as reside within cer-
tain local bounds. Usually the ordinances are pushed most earnestly by
white householders and speculators who, either for social or pecuniary rea-
sons, or both, object to Negro proximity. The wealthier white house-
holders, by virtue of their superior economic ability, reside beyond the pale
of encroachment of either undesirable Negroes or undesirable whites. They
are most likely to prefer to have their Negro servants live near by, and in
so doing they do not run the risk of presenting a similar social level.

NEGRO HOUSING AND THE COMMUNITY 41

stitutional to legislate against one element of citizens, the law
permits individuals to enter contractual relationships and offers
machinery for punishing violators of contracts. Thus, these cove-
nants have become widespread through the North, and these ex-
clusion methods have been reinforced by violence in Chicago, De-
troit, White Plains, New York, Washington, and Philadelphia.

The first challenge of the covenants came in 1923, in the Wash-
ington, D. C, case of Corrigan v. Buckley, 299 Fed. 899. There
had been a covenant, to which Mrs. Irene Hand Corrigan was a
party, that the property would never be rented, leased, sold, or
otherwise transferred to a Negro or to persons of African descent.
The court ruled in 1924 that the covenant was valid and did not
invade the constitutional rights of Negroes, inasmuch as Negroes
had the right to enter into agreements to keep white persons or
other persons deemed undesirable out of Negro neighborhoods.

In 1926, while the suit was still pending, an injunction was
granted restraining the sale of other property affected by the
restrictive covenants. Meanwhile, another type of covenant apr
peared in the case of a parcel of property in Randolph Place,
in Washington, owned by Mrs. Minnie E. Torrey, a white woman,
and sold to Mr. Sereno S. Ivy, a Negro. The deed to the property
contained the following clause:

"Subject to the covenant that said lots shall never be rented, leased, sold,
transferred, or conveyed unto any Negro or colored person under a penalty
of two thousand dollars which shall be a lien against such lot."

The Supreme Court of the District of Columbia in 1925 held the
covenant valid, and the case was appealed.11 In 1927 another suit
was filed to have Negroes vacate premises and abide by the condi-
tions of a local restrictive covenant. Five suits, thus, were pending
simultaneously in Washington, and in seventeen other cities in
other sections of the country there was similar agitation over
Negro segregation.

Attacks on these covenants have rested upon the contention that
such covenants are in restraint of alienation, in restraint of trade,
and against the public policy of the United States. The United
States Supreme Court, declaring that it had no jurisdiction, refused
to review the two cases brought to it, which questioned the con-
stitutionality of residential segregation agreements of property

uOn Appeal, Torrey v. Wolfes, 6 Fed. (2d) 702.

42 NEGRO HOUSING

owners held legal by the Court of Appeals of the District of
Columbia.12

That this decision was taken as a new method of private social
zoning is evident in the editorial comment of the Trenton Times,
in calling attention to the decision and to the already effective
means employed by a local group of property owners to keep all
kinds of shops out of their neighborhood, when it said: "In newer
sections there is opportunity for real estate developers to fix by
deed the character of their neighborhoods not only as to the exclu-
sion of stores, garages, etc., but ruling as to the types of citizens
who may be admitted, as well." Thus, it seems that what is uncon-
stitutional and bad policy for a state or municipality is possible
and legal by private agreement. This privilege, as exercised in
the covenants, freely employed with respect to Negroes, has ex-
tended itself in various communities to include Jews, Indians,
Japanese, "members of the Balkan races" (sic) and "South Euro-
peans."

Some Social Effects of Formal Efforts at Segregation

Contrary to the professed intentions of these measures, in the
cities where segregation laws have been attempted, the efforts as a
rule have been accompanied by an intensified race friction. In
Baltimore, Louisville, and New Orleans, notably, the attempts to
arouse popular interest to the point of legislation involved cam-
paigns of vilification and emotional appeals which had little or no
reference to the simple fact of housing. In Louisville, the racial
feeling stimulated by the fight continued active for more than ten
years. Not only did it aggravate race friction within and without
the racial groups, but it stirred a type of "race solidarity" incom-
patible with the most wholesome race relations. Bitterness re-
mained on both sides; the white residents were balked by the
Supreme Court; the Negroes were resentful of the disrespect of
their own local government for their rights as citizens.

In New Orleans there was organized the Louisiana Club for
Segregation, which circulated such propaganda:

12 See Work, Monroe N., Editor, The Negro Year Book, Tuskegee, Ala.,
1931-1932; Reports of National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People, 69 Fifth Ave., New York; Opportunity, New York, August, 1926,
Vol. 4; Literary Digest, New York, June 12, 1926, Vol. 89; The Crisis, New
York, December, 1924, Vol. 29, No. 2; Congressional Digest, Washington,
June, 1926, Vol. 5, p. 207.

NEGRO HOUSING AND THE COMMUNITY 43

"Negroes have organized themselves . . . and are vigorously working
night and day to gain social equality. Through their efforts they have over-
thrown segregation laws for Louisiana, Kentucky, Georgia, and Virginia.
They want to be your next-door neighbor. They demand social equal-
ity "

A handbill told how much was being paid by the Federal Govern-
ment in salaries to Negro employees, how many millions of dollars
were being spent "to overcome the illiteracy test (applied to Negro
prospective voters) to qualify him to vote," and asked what the
whites were doing to "protect themselves." 13

White residents in affected cities, who had lived near Negroes,
and at times in adjoining houses to Negroes throughout their lives,
became suddenly self-conscious. Many of them moved in panic
because they could not resist the taunts of other white persons.

The unwholesome stress of these ordinances is apparent in the
immediate decline in prices of properties available to Negroes when
the ban was removed in Louisville, Baltimore, Atlanta, and New
Orleans. The better houses and neighborhoods into which the
Negroes moved in these cities constituted an improvement over
their previous housing condition, in spite of the fact that finan-
cially, even in the subdivisions, they have been bought at a rela-
tively high cost.

The covenants have already demonstrated some of the economic
dangers of fixed domiciliary segregation. The covenanters in the
Grand Boulevard district in Chicago who, in 1917, agreed not to
sell 60 pieces of property to Negroes, went to the court in 1928
seeking to annul the agreement in order that they might clear
their titles and sell to Negroes. And in Washington, D. C., before
one case, involving a covenant, could be settled in court, all but
two or three of the covenanters had yielded to the temptation to
sell to Negroes. In numbers of cases the covenants have defeated
their own purpose and have worked a hardship upon the cove-
nanters as well as their heirs. When there is danger of Negro
residence in a block formerly occupied exclusively by whites,
something usually has already occurred, in the character of the
block, to make it available to Negroes at a price which they can
pay. It is not always possible to secure the signatures of all white
residents in the area, and for the greater profit in selling to Ne-

13 Perkins, A. E., Editor, Who's Who in Colored Louisiana, 1930.

44 NEGRO HOUSING

groes the purpose of the covenant can be violated without involv-
ing legal penalty. Neighborhoods change, and the heirs find them-
selves with properties no longer valuable for residence and not
yet valuable for business; and even though all of them should
desert the properties, the sites could never be available for Negro
residences, old or new, whether beside other groups or by them-
selves. The real opposition to good public policy is apparent when
the privilege and custom are conceived as applicable over a wide
area. It would mean that one minority element of the population
is forever prohibited from living within covenanted territory,
whatever character this should take in future. The corollary of
such an arrangement is an intensified ghetto, the character of
which, similarly, could never change.

Arguments Advanced in Support of Segregation

The most direct and usually the most effective argument in
support of segregation is that Negroes depreciate property values.
Another frequent argument is that a Negro in a white neighbor-
hood is a disturbing factor and causes breaches of the public peace
and race friction. Still another argument is that Negroes are
happier in their own neighborhoods, where they have their
churches, business, and other social institutions. Louis B. Wehle,
in discussing the Louisville case, provides a summary of the most
common reasons advanced : 14

"At the trial involving the Louisville ordinance, counsel for the city, with
a view to establishing that it was a reasonable exercise of the legislative
police power, introduced evidence that the advent of colored residents in
white neighborhoods inevitably causes friction, which in some instances has
resulted in the enforced withdrawal of the Negro family through personal
threats or wilful destruction of property. Highly reputable evidence was
introduced to the effect that the arrival of a Negro family in a white resi-
dence block immediately cuts down actual real estate values in such block
by from 30 to 60 per cent, . . . Many southerners who have a genuine desire
to help the Negro contend that his immediate need in cities is to escape those
frictions which throw him backward and interfere with affirmative remedial
forces for his improvement ; that the Negro in southern cities has recognized
this need by voluntary segregation, but that individuals growing in num-
bers have been led to disregard the present futility and danger of social press-
ure ; and that the segregation law is the necessary counter-move of the white

14 Wehle, Louis B., "Isolating the Negro," The New Republic, November
27, 1915, Vol. 5, pp. 88-89.

NEGRO HOUSING AND THE COMMUNITY 45

man for preserving peace while he waits to see whether or not the Negro
may develop in ways which will justify his being given a greater measure
of political and social freedom. . . .

"The southerner who argues for city segregation believes that it will
provide the medium in which the character of the Negro will develop. . . ."

Arguments Against Segregation

The principal argument against segregation is that it is uncon-
stitutional. Moreover, it is the most fruitful source of ghettos,
deliberately shutting off Negroes, and at times other national or
racial groups, in the lowest and worst parts of the city and forcing
them into a helpless association with vice, crime, and inescapable
unattractiveness and insanitation. Such unfriendly isolation fos-
ters prejudices which carry over into economic and other social
relations. It is especially disastrous to the morale of the Negro,
restricting his hopes for improvement as it restricts his general
development.

Booker T. Washington, who was not regarded as radical in his
views on race relations, summarized before his death the argu-
ments against segregation, and these still remain unaffected by the
further discussions of the question : 15

1. It is unjust.

2. It invites other unjust measures.

3. It will not be productive of good, because practically every thought-
ful Negro resents its injustice and doubts its sincerity. Any race adjust-
ment based on injustice finally defeats itself. The Civil War is the best
illustration of what results where it is attempted to make wrong right or
seem to be right.

4. It is unnecessary.

5. It is inconsistent. The Negro is segregated from his white neighbor,
but white business men are not prevented from doing business in Negro
neighborhoods.

6. There has been no case of segregation of Negroes in the United States
that has not widened the breach between the two races. Wherever a form
of segregation exists it will be found that it has been administered in such
a way as to embitter the Negro and harm more or less the moral fiber of
the white man. That the Negro does not express his constant sense of
wrong is no proof that he does not feel it.

Most important, from the point of view of this memorandum,
is the fact that segregation, in being looked upon as a simple pana-

16 Washington, Booker T., "My Views of Segregation Laws," The New
Republic, New York, December 4, 1915, Vol. 5, p. 114.

46 NEGRO HOUSING

cea, has kept the Negro-occupied sections of cities throughout the
country fatally unwholesome places, a menace to the health,
morals, and general decency of cities, and "plague spots for race
exploitation, friction and riots."

Violence and Intimidation

Negro housing segregation has been enforced by economic neces-
sity, by law, contract, gentlemen's agreements, and by brute force.
Where laws and private contracts have failed, mobs have attempted
to maintain the racial integrity of neighborhoods. In Chicago,
following the protests and agitation of the Hyde Park Property
Owners' Association, the homes of 58 Negro families were bombed
within a period of less than four years.16 Bombings continued after
that period, and were later used in other contested local situa-
tions. In Cleveland, Ohio, in 1924, Negro families were forced
to abandon their homes in Garfield Heights because "they had
no right to buy such a nice place." 17

In Cleveland Heights during the same year handbills were dis-
tributed carrying this message:

"Be Sure to Read This.
Certain niggers have recently blackmailed

certain residents of the Cleveland

Heights and other Sections of the City.

They are now trying to erect a house at

11114 Wade Park Avenue to Blackmail us.

But they will not. The residents of the

Neighborhood will not give one cent to those blackmailers.

Appoint your committees to oppose and eradicate this
group of Black Gold Diggers. Let them know we can dup-
licate riots in Tulsa, St. Louis, Chicago, and
Baltimore."

Shortly afterwards the home of a Negro physician who belonged
to the City Club of Cleveland and was a member of the staff of a
general hospital was twice dynamited in the Wade Park section
of the city.18

In Pittsburgh, a wooden cross was burned on the lawn of a

10 The Chicago Commission on Race Relations, The Negro in Chicago,
Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1922, p. 122.

17 The Crisis, November, 1924, Vol. 29, No. 1, p. 20.

18 The Crisis, February, 1929, Vol. 36, No. 2.

NEGRO HOUSING AND THE COMMUNITY 47

Negro physician's home, and threats were made to withdraw finan-
cial support from the Community Chest and Y. M. C. A. if two
Negro physicians and a Y. M. C. A. secretary were not forced by
these organizations to move from recently purchased homes. Later,
a mob of 3,000 white persons attacked the recently built home of
a Negro post-office employee. In White Plains, New York, a
cross was burned on the lawn and an attempt made to wreck the
home of a Negro woman.19

There have been bombings of Negro houses in Kansas City,
Louisville, Baltimore, and clashes in practically every state experi-
encing a Negro population increase, from Virginia to California.
Shots were fired into the home of a Negro family in Memphis,
Tennessee, located in an "exclusive section" in 1929 ; death threats
were sent and finally the house was burned down.20 The home
of a Negro insurance auditor in Denver was demolished in 1926.
Fifty masked men attempted to frighten a Negro woman from
her home in Union, New Jersey, by throwing crude bombs and
burning a fiery cross.

The most notable as well as most significant case illustrating
these methods of intimidation was that which occurred in Detroit
in 1925. The Negro population of that city had grown from
5,741 in 1910 to 40,838 in 1920 and to 81,831 in 1925. There had
also been a large increase in the white population. The old Negro
areas were overrun, and Negroes who were able to purchase
property elsewhere attempted to move into less crowded terri-
tory. Where there are houses in a city outside the restricted
Negro areas, it is expected that these will be occupied by white
people. One physician had moved into a street occupied by whites.
When his home was stoned and his family otherwise endangered,
he moved. Five years later another Negro physician attempted
to move into a similarly restricted street. A mob surrounded his
home, and when they attacked it the, Negro fired, killing one man
and wounding another. The case went to court, attracting much
attention, and after several months, with the help of able attor-
neys, he was released. The mob did not know that the former
occupant of the house for many years had been a Negro of light
complexion, who had simply been considered white.

10 The Defender, April 25, 1931, p. 1.

20 Work, Monroe N., Editor, The Negro Year Book, Tuskegee, Ala., 1931.

48 NEGRO HOUSING

How New Sites Are Acquired

The process of acquiring new sites under the present restric-
tions is tedious, hazardous, and frequently humiliating to the Ne-
groes. This process, which varies but little from city to city, is
described by Jones :

"The process is usually begun by individual Negroes — residential pioneers
— establishing, or attempting to establish residence in the heart of an
'exclusively white' neighborhood. There are usually certain white home
owners in every white section of the city who do not care to retain their
property at a loss when they cannot secure a good white buyer and when
Negroes are willing to offer them their price. Many such home owners
now live outside the city and, hence, have no interest in the efforts to keep
such communities 'white.' In certain other instances, Negroes who can pass
for white have subtly purchased homes in the midst of white neighborhoods
and have moved in before it became known that they were Negroes. Then
there is the unmarried or widowed white woman who owns property in her
own name and is out of sympathy with the general tendency to exclude the
Negro. She, in many instances, defies the prejudice of the members of her
community and sells her home to some particular colored family. Then,
again, shrewd white real estate dealers have purposely sold to Negroes
homes which were on 'exclusive white' streets in order to float new real
estate projects."21

Property Depreciation and Negro Residence

Most of the discussion of Negro areas centers about the ques-
tion of property depreciation. It is currently assumed that the
presence of Negroes depreciates property values. This belief is
given point by the fact that real estate agents, brokers for loans,
and investors in real estate generally regard Negro property a bad
risk. When Negroes move into a block, there frequently follows
a rapid exodus of white residents who put up their property for
forced sale and accept the loss as inevitable. It was claimed, for
example, that the "invasion" of Negroes in the Hyde Park area
of Chicago resulted in a loss of $200,000,000 to the white property
owners. The physical aspect of old Negro areas is usually suf-
ficient to constitute a threat to newer sections. It appears to be
true that there have been properties which fell off in value when
Negroes took occupancy ; and this, because of the types of Negroes
inhabiting the property. Two facts, however, are outstanding in
the instances of property depreciation observed :

21 Jones, William Henry, The Housing of Negroes in Washington, D. C.,
Washington, Howard University Press, 1929, pp. 65-66.

NEGRO HOUSING AND THE COMMUNITY 49

1. That Negroes have been the symptom more often than the cause of
depreciation.

2. The psychological factor involving opinions regarding desirability,
precipitous flight, etc., has brought depreciation which had no inherent
relationship to the actual character and traits of the Negroes.

In the most common instances of newly acquired neighborhoods,
as all the studies examined have shown, a higher rental has been
paid by the Negro newcomers than could be secured from the de-
parting white occupants. The Chicago Commission on Race Rela-
tions went perhaps more thoroughly than previous study into this
question and was able to make certain striking observations. What
had actually happened in the area of alleged loss of value was that
houses which had cost original owners $50,000 to $100,000 to
erect when the neighborhood was fashionable had steadily and
violently declined in value, after the removal of the first owners
to newer localities, and this decline had occurred some twenty or
thirty years before there was even a threat of Negro residence.
Without such a radical decline these houses could not have been
purchased by the Negroes, whose level of income carried a neces-
sary restriction. The original owners in this area had been fol-
lowed by successive economic and social gradations of white own-
ers and tenants, until it became impracticable to secure rentals or
prices comparable with the pretentiousness of the houses. The
tenants moved to smaller and newer apartments, leaving them va-
cant. When Negroes first entered the area, agents were offering
a month's rent free to encourage occupancy; they accepted small
first payments on purchases and had sold as many as 1,100 to 3,000
buildings to Negroes who had migrated from the South, before the
campaign for restriction was begun.

There had been other factors undermining values which had no
relation to race. The area was flanked by the stockyards, with
their obnoxious odors, on one side, and the smoke and grime of a
large railroad on the other. The automobile industry had preceded
the Negroes into the section, with its display shops and garages.
The automobile at the same time had made it feasible for wealthier
families to live some distance away from the center of the city.

Again, the wear and tear of the elements had deteriorated the
dwellings, for most of them were thirty or more years old. Clan-
destine prostitutes had preceded the Negroes after the breaking
up of the old red-light district. One Negro home, four times

50 NEGRO HOUSING

bombed, had been purchased from a registered prostitute, and on
a number of occasions raided before the Negroes invaded the
area. The study of the Mayor's Interracial Committee of De-
troit, conducted by the Detroit Bureau of Governmental Research,
had this to say about real estate values and the Negro :

"There is a general feeling among the white people of Detroit that the
Negro penetration of white residential areas causes depreciation in prop-
erty values. This feeling is in itself a real cause of depreciation when
property is sold, because of hysteria and without regard to market value.
If a Negro penetrates into a very exclusive white residential district, there
may be an effect on property values, as there is a very limited Negro mar-
ket for high-priced dwellings. If a neighborhood where properties are
moderately priced is 'invaded,' it is quite possible that real estate values
will not fall and may even be appreciated by Negro purchase because the
supply of decent, medium-priced houses for Negroes is smaller than the
demand.

"The general deterioration of congested Negro areas cannot be attributed
to Negro occupancy. For instance, other factors in the St. Antonio Dis-
trict, such as the entrance of commercial buildings, factories and garages,
the concentration of vice resorts, etc., had depreciated the values of houses
for residential purposes before the Negro moved in. After the entrance
of the Negro, further depreciation takes place because of the consequent
overcrowding on account of the effort to pay the rents charged.

"It is a part of the general movement in Detroit by the more substantial
colored families to get out of the crowded districts and to secure good homes
in respectable communities.

"The first colored family which entered this block did so as an individual
matter. There is no evidence that this first buyer broke into the com-
munity with the idea of decreasing property valuation by his presence so
that others of his race might thereby purchase property in the same neigh-
borhood at a great advantage. Nor is there any evidence of a collective
or conscious movement to wedge colored families into this block. The
first family paid a high price for the property, but as the agent in the
sale recalled it, he paid 'what was asked' and so got the place rather than
a white purchaser who tried to bargain.

"There appears to be no evidence to show that white sellers up to the
time of the study had lost because Negroes have moved into the block.
White sellers received their price (although not always their terms), which
they might have had trouble in getting from white purchasers. In the
opinion of one of the real estate men, most of the residents on the street
stood to lose on any transaction because they had bought at peak prices
and in many instances not only asked their original price but added to it a
substantial profit. These people could not find white purchasers, but they
could find colored purchasers. On the other hand, another operator thought
that the actual value of Harding Avenue property would have reached the
value assumed by those who tried to sell, merely through the appreciation

NEGRO HOUSING AND THE COMMUNITY 51

of land and small improvements. He also stated that colored residents en-
tering a community could not help but depreciate property values. This
realtor had but one house listed for sale on Harding Avenue, and had never
done any business on the street previous to this. When these contentions
are subjected to the Harding Avenue study they both lose weight. If the
Harding Avenue property was sold at its actual value, then neither party
lost by the transaction and the colored purchaser merely outbid his white
competitor. If the presence of colored in a white neighborhood depreciated
actual property values as the white residents claimed and yet the colored
purchaser paid the market value asked, apparently the colored buyer was the
loser and not the former property owner." 22

It seems clear that social forces, in addition to the impersonal
physical factors, have much to do with where Negroes shall live,
and, by virtue of such determination, how they shall live. The
experience of Negroes, in the mass, indicates quite definitely that
the community cannot always be trusted to give, unaided by gov-
ernmental authority, adequate attention to the weaker elements in
its structure. What is needed by Negroes is not new legislation
but protection against discriminating interpretations and applica-
tions of the basic laws now existing.

22 The Negro in Detroit (Section V, "Housing"), Prepared for the Mayor's
Interracial Committee, Detroit Bureau of Governmental Research, Inc., 1926.
(Mimeographed.)

CHAPTER III

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC FACTORS IN
NEGRO HOUSING

This division of the report is concerned with some of the social
consequences of the type of housing provided for the Negro popu-
lation, or which this population has been able to provide for itself.
The data have been, in large part, assembled by a special
group of which T. Arnold Hill of the National Urban League
was chairman, and are supported by a special report which consti-
tutes Appendix II, p. 143.

At least three types of social pathology have been observed to
have a high and inescapable correlation with the character of
Negro residence areas. These are:

(1) A high rate of delinquency,

(2) A high rate of mortality, and

(3) A distorted standard of living.

Neighborhoods and Delinquency x

Volume II of the Report on the Causes of Crime, by the Na-
tional Commission on Law Observance and Enforcement,2 de-
voted much space to the consideration of neighborhoods and
their relation to the delinquency rate of boys. An analysis of the
delinquency areas as plotted on the map of Chicago reveals sev-
eral pertinent points :

1. There is a high percentage of delinquency in many of the areas where
Negroes form more than 10 per cent of the population; but the percentage
is no higher than that of the "back of the yards" district where almost no
Negroes live, but where the same conditions of low wages, poor housing
and overcrowding exist in the white population.

2. The percentage of delinquency decreases progressively as one's eye
moves south from 31st Street into the district of better Negro homes. The
percentage runs as follows in the area bounded on the west by State Street
and on the south by Cottage Grove Avenue (the so-called black belt) :

1For a more complete treatment of the subject of delinquency and hous-
ing, see special report prepared by Earl R. Moses, Director of Research,
Chicago Urban League. Appendix II, p. 143.

2 Report on the Causes of Crime, Washington, Government Printing Office,
1931, Vol. II, Ch. 2, pp. 23-59.

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC FACTORS IN NEGRO HOUSING 53
Table III. Delinquency in Selected Areas, Chicago

Per cent Per cent Negro to

Area delinquency total population

22nd to 31st Streets 157 49

31st to 39th Streets 15.1 71

39th to 47th Streets 8.8 34

47th to 55th Streets 3.5 17

(This table is based on Juvenile Court appearances)

3. In the outlying sections where the Negroes are chiefly home owners,
the percentage of delinquency is about as low as for similar sections where
there are no Negroes, and lower than contiguous sections with a relatively
high per cent of foreign born as compared with native whites, and where
practically no Negroes live. In the Morgan Park area where 47.4 per
cent8 of the Negro residents owned their homes, the delinquency rate com-
pares favorably with that of predominantly native white areas.

4. The "vice section" includes the northerly and most densely concen-
trated third of the "black belt."

5. Approximately one-third of the "black belt" is in the "zone in transi-
tion."

The zone in transition in the natural process of city expansion
is described by E. W. Burgess :

"Surrounding the Central Business District are areas of residential de-
terioration caused by the encroaching of business and industry from Zone
I" (the central business district). "This may therefore be called a Zone in
Transition, with a factory district for its inner belt and an outer ring of
retrogressing neighborhoods, of first-settlement immigrant colonies, of
rooming-house districts, of homeless-men areas, of resorts of gambling, boot-
legging, sexual vice, and of breeding-places of crime. In this area of phys-
ical deterioration and social disorganization our studies show the greatest
concentration of cases of poverty, bad housing, juvenile delinquency, family
disintegration, physical and mental disease. As families and individuals
prosper, they escape from this area into Zone III" (one of workingmen's
homes) "beyond, leaving behind as marooned a residuum of the defeated,
leaderless, and helpless."4

The last sentence calls for further analysis, so far as Negroes
are concerned. The escape into Zone 3 beyond, in the first place,
must to a great degree depend on improvement of economic

8 Woofter, T. J. Jr. and Associates, Negro Problems in Cities, Garden City,
N. Y., Doubleday, Doran and Company, Inc., 1928. Census data of 1930.

* Burgess, Ernest W., "Urban Areas," Chicago— An Experiment in Social
Science Research, (edited by T. V. Smith and L. P. White), Chicago, Uni-
versity of Chicago Press, 1929, pp. 114-116.

54 NEGRO HOUSING

status. There are doubtless many Negroes who are indifferent
to such surroundings as those described above; there are some
also who prefer such environment because it fits into their scheme
of life ; but there are many others who must remain solely because
trieir low incomes compel them to. The Italian laborer who lands
in Zone 2 on his arrival from Italy may or may not remain a
strongback for the rest of his life, but it is a safe bet that his son
will not be a strongback. He may become a racketeer, a skilled
artisan, a bond salesman, or a bootblack. The Negro laborer from
Georgia is pretty likely to remain a strongback until he is too old,
and further than that his son has a good chance at only one of the
vocations listed for the Italian boy, the last named. Or he may
follow his father if, by the time he has grown up, the Mexicans
have not preempted the laboring jobs.

Granted, however, that the Negro's economic status permits
him to move on into Zone 3, vice follows him, at least in Chicago.

"The records of convictions in the morals court and the evidence of the
Committee of Fifteen show the gradual drift of prostitution southward co-
incidentally with the expansions of the main area of Negro residence.

"Between 1916 and 1918 houses of prostitution decreased from forty-eight
to twenty-five in number in the territory between 12th and 22d Streets and
from 130 to 107 between 12th and 31st Streets. Between 31st and 35th
Streets the number had slightly increased, while there was an increase of
nearly 80 per cent between 35th and 39th Streets. In the combined dis-
tricts between 31st and 39th Streets, the number increased from sixty-
two to eighty-four; and between 39th and 55th Streets the increase was
from eleven to fifty-four. . . . Further evidence of this movement of vicious
resorts, and an abnormally large number of them, into the Negro areas
was obtained from the state's attorney's office, the Commission's investiga-
tors, and from confidential reports submitted by other organizations. Most
of these places are maintained by white persons, because in this district there
is less likelihood of effective interference, either from citizens or public
authorities." B

But even a real improvement in economic conditions does not
open to the Negro family the same opportunity for moving into
a better house and a better community environment, leaving out
of the question the habit of the vicious element to seek proximity
to it. It has been shown elsewhere in this work that the move-
ment of Negroes into a new neighborhood (for them) is often
met with hostility and not a few times with violence.

5 The Chicago Commission on Race Relations, The Negro in Chicago,
Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1922, p. 344.

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC FACTORS IN NEGRO HOUSING 55

The Negro area may expand, the expansion accompanied by
rent raising as well as by opposition in many cases, but the Negro
area must still remain Negro. The family of the immigrant, his
financial status improved, may lose itself, especially in the second
generation. It has become Americanized, and an attempt to im-
prove its status is seldom frowned on. The Negro family that
moves into a new quarter as often as not has its urge for better-
ment characterized as a desire to get away from its race or to
"horn in where it is not wanted." As a matter of fact, the Negro
has learned that there are very few places where he is wanted.
Even in the humblest parts of Zone 2, he is often unwelcome.
The Chicago Negro of the fourth generation is just as easily
identified "as a Negro" by people who do not wish to live near
Negroes as is the Negro just from the canebrakes. The second
or third generation Irishman or Pole is simply an American citizen
who is judged and classified by his neighbors according to his ap-
parent financial standing and his behavior, like any other Ameri-
can. It is not at all strange, in the light of his low economic status
and the social pressure of the group outside both taken together,
that Dr. Paul F. Cressey finds that "the Negroes present a strik-
ing contrast to the increasing dispersion of the European im-
migrant groups in Chicago, for they have become more highly con-
centrated during the past twenty-two years. As the number of
Negroes in the city has increased, fewer Negroes have lived scat-
tered through predominantly white areas, and the greater has
become their concentration in specific Negro communities." 6 So,
aside from the tendency toward delinquency which seems to ac-
company overcrowded areas, the Negro communities would be
expected to show a higher delinquency rate than similar white
communities because, whereas the Negroes are concentrated, the
Negro delinquent may be diffused throughout the Negro districts.
On the other hand, though the foreign born and the youth of
foreign-born parents contribute more than their share to the total
of white delinquent boys, these foreign whites tend to be concen-
trated in districts, so keeping down the delinquency rate of other
white districts. Vice, at least open vice, does not follow the for-
eigner moving into Zone 3.

The foreign born's neighborhood is socially more or less self-

6 Cressey, Paul F., The Succession of Cultural Groups. Ph.D. Thesis,
University of Chicago. 1930.

56 NEGRO HOUSING

contained, but there is comparatively little social separation as
between the Negro old settler and the new arrival from the South,
for, however great the cultural difference may be in individual
cases, the difference in economic status is hardly noticeable. Be-
sides, the Negro in this country has been so conditioned as to
recognize kinship. The newly arrived Negro immigrant from the
South has no feeling of inferiority, however different his back-
ground from that of the Negro native. The common language
and the tendency for the average white man to consider the simi-
larity of all Negroes to extend from color and to embrace every
other personal characteristic, combined with the larger factors
already mentioned, tend to make the Negro community appear
homogeneous when it is not. The greatest leveler, of course, is
economic status. This tendency toward democracy in Negro com-
munities has many points to commend it, but the fact remains that
it tends to put the Negro group in a questionable position when
social statistics are presented.

The Chicago Commission's report goes on to show that the zone
in transition with its successive groups of unassimilated people
tends to maintain a remarkably constant rate of delinquency. As
the foreign born or their offspring absorb American customs and
the standards of urban life, all except the most shiftless move into
the next zones, while a new group of unassimilated people come
in. With the movements into more socially healthful communities
where neighborhood influences are both stronger and better, the
delinquency rate drops. There does not appear to be an increase,
in the rate with the advent of the newcomers — first, because they
represent the most adaptable of the original transitional area
group; and secondly, because there is pressure both from within
and without to mould them into the traditions of the new neigh-
borhoods. The same processes are true for Negroes, but what we
have tried to show is that their operation is modified in the case
of Negroes by the following factors :

1. Low income keeps a larger proportion of Negroes in the area in
transition, probably against the will of a large number of them.

2. The evil social environment often follows the Negroes uninvited into
the new neighborhood, and vicious environment is more likely to be dif-
fused throughout the Negro area of workingmen's homes than of white
workingmen's homes.

3. There is a persistent (even when unorganized) pressure to keep
enterprising Negroes out of desirable neighborhoods other than the recog-
nized Negro section, which results in overcrowding of that section, with

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC FACTORS IN NEGRO HOUSING 57

an attendant lack of family privacy, and which makes statistical differentia-
tion difficult.

What we mean by "differentiation" is illustrated in the words of
E. Franklin Frazier. He is speaking of Chicago also :

"Juvenile delinquency is not the result only of the breakdown of family
control. It is a part of the general dissolution of community life in the urban
environment. In the cities for which statistics are available Negroes con-
tribute much more than their share of the cases of juvenile delinquency and
Chicago is not an exception to the general situation. In 1920 about a fifth of
the delinquent boys brought before the juvenile court were Negroes. The
proportion of Negro cases has been increasing rapidly during recent years.
This increase has been associated with the fact that Negroes have been
moving into those areas which have long been characterized by a high
rate of delinquency although the racial composition of the area has changed
several times. There were considerable variations in the rates of juvenile
delinquency in the Negro community. In the areas where the poorer
migrants settled and both family and community life were dissolving under
the influence of urban life, about 40 per cent of the boys were arrested for
delinquency. The rate did not show any marked change until one came to
the better sections of the community, which were distinguished by more
stable family life and some sort of community organization. ... In the area
of the community which showed considerable concentration of the higher
occupational classes, a high percentage of home ownership, and other signs
of stable family and community life, juvenile delinquency was almost entirely
absent." 7

Mortality and Negro Housing

We may begin by saying that Negro death rates are nearly
twice as high as the white ; that they are higher in the North than
in the South; that they are higher in cities than in the country;
that the disparity between Negro urban and rural rates is over
two and one-half times greater than that between white urban and
rural rates; that Negro urban death rates are highest in the
South. The diseases which, authorities agree, are due largely
to unfavorable sanitary conditions and low economic status, show
at present the greatest disparity between Negro and white rates.
These are pulmonary tuberculosis, typhoid, malaria, pellagra and
puerperal conditions. Tuberculosis is six times as high among
Negro boys and girls as among white boys and girls.8

The Children's Bureau 9 in a study of infant mortality records

7 Frazier, E. Franklin, "Family Disorganization Among Negroes," Op-
portunity, July, 1931, Vol. 9, p. 207.

8 Memorandum on Negro Health, Department of Social Science, Fisk
University, Nashville, Tenn.

9 Woodbury, Robert M., Causal Factors in Infant Mortality, Washington,
U. S. Children's Bureau, Bulletin 142, 1925.

58 NEGRO HOUSING

found that the rate fluctuated significantly with the factors of
rentals and congestion. Woofter 10 correlated Negro death rates
from tuberculosis with congestion in New York City, and got a
Pearsonian correlation coefficient of + .809. The Women's City
Club of Louisville, investigating the incidence of tuberculosis,
listed 300 dwellings in which there had been two or more deaths.
A serious defect in lighting or ventilation was discovered in all.
Deaths from tuberculosis in old and new law apartments in New
York averaged 10.3 per 1,000 for the old and 6.5 per 1,000 for
the new.

The most frequent explanation of the high Negro mortality has
been a racial susceptibility to tuberculosis and the stress of the
urban environment. This does not explain differences in mor-
tality among Negroes in different circumstances. W. H. Jones,11
in Washington, has provided figures which have a most significant
bearing upon housing. The mortality of Negroes from four lead-
ing diseases is from one and a half to four times as great in the
alley dwellings as on the streets. Important differences are
observed between rates of mortality for such whites as live in
alleys and on streets. Moreover, death rates for Negroes on
streets in a number of instances were less than the rates for
whites living in alleys. The gross differences in the racial mor-
tality are helped by the fact that there were 331 white persons
living in alleys and 12,867 Negroes.

Living Standards

The first striking observation regarding Negro living expendi-
tures is that they are required to spend a larger proportion of their
income for rent than other groups. This may be attributed to the
same causes that require them to pay, as a rule, more for the same
kind of housing than other persons. The Negro's standard of
comfort tends, in general, to be like that of the native white peo-
ple with whom he conies in contact. The urban Negro, at least,
has adopted, as far as possible, the standards of comfort of the
American people in general, and the rural migrant to the city
quickly falls in line. This process of "Americanizing" Negroes
has been facilitated since slavery days by the employment of a
large proportion of them in domestic service. The Negro, then,

10 Woofter, T. J. Jr. and Associates, Negro Problems in Cities, Garden
City, N. Y., Doubleday, Doran and Company, Inc., 1928.

11 Jones, William Henry, The Housing of Negroes in Washington, D. C.,
Washington, Howard University Press, 1929.

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC FACTORS IN NEGRO HOUSING 59

is likely to be as "100 per cent American" in his standards of
comfort as his income will allow him to be. His actual scale of
comfort, also, is likely to be as high, for too often he cannot see
an advantage in postponing the satisfaction of his desires. His
chances for advancement do not encourage thrift, and no vision
of the ascent from poor boy to third vice-president or of a junior
partnership inspires him to wait. So if he wishes a better apart-
ment he may pay a rent out of all proportion to his wage and
make up the difference by taking in lodgers. He is enjoying some
of the comforts which are always being brought to his attention
even if he has to share them with outsiders. Such a person would
think it better to have a bathtub and share it with a lodger or
two now, than to do without it all his life.

The following paragraph illustrates a slightly different view
of the same situation, the difficulties facing the Negro worker
seeking to maintain a decent standard of living:

"The fact . . . that the Negro is the last hired and the first fired, has
an important bearing on the situation. When asked why Negroes are thus
treated, the employer is likely to give as his reason that the colored worker
can best stand it. Apparently the notion that the Negro can adapt himself
better is based on the fact that he will more quickly take in lodgers than
whites and more generally permit the number of occupants per room to
grow beyond reasonable limits. This may merely mean that the standards
of living to which Negroes are subjected are already so low that unem-
ployment forces emergency measures upon them faster than upon those
groups that have other resources to fall back upon." M

In other words, the Negro can stand such conditions as he can
stand hot and heavy work, because he can get no better. A great
deal of evidence from different sources has been gathered to show
that the Negro pays a higher proportion of his income for rent
than do other people. In some cases, it may be due primarily to
the generally low income of Negroes because of occupational
status; in others, it may be due primarily to the exploitation of
Negroes due to restriction of Negroes to certain residential areas ;
in still others, the desire for improved housing might outweigh
consideration of cost. In most cases, however, we believe all
these causative factors are present in varying degrees. A recent
study by Dr. Houghteling 13 in Chicago emphasizes the first of
these reasons, that is, low income due to low occupational status.

^Feldman, Herman, Racial Factors in American Industry, New York,
Harper and Brothers, 1931, p. 69.

13 Houghteling, Leila, The Income and Standard of Living of Unskilled
Laborers in Chicago, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1927.

NEGRO HOUSING

Dr. Houghteling's study is especially significant in a considera-
tion of income and expenses because,

1. It is a study of unskilled wage earners, in which occupational classes
such a large proportion of Negroes are found.

2. There was no attempt in gathering the information to get any propor-
tion of Negro to white families, so that for comparison we have a "natural"
and not an artificial control group.

3. The cases finally selected excluded men who had been employed for less
than a year at the particular establishment, men who had been unemployed
during the past year, and single men, as well as married men who did not
have a child under fourteen years old.

4. Widows as heads of families are excluded.

5. Only heads of families for which accurate figures for a year's earnings
could be secured from the employer, were included.

The following table is adapted from the work cited:

Table IV.

Earnings of Chief Wage Earners Classified by Race ; Cumu-
lative Percentages (80 Negro, 343 White)

Earnings of Chief
Wage Earners

Cumulative Percentages

Total

White

Colored

Less than $ 900

1.4
4.0
13.5
25.3
40.2
55.1
74.3
84.9
90.6
95.3
96.7
98.4
98.9
99.8
99.8
100.0

1.5
3.5
9.9
19.5
33.5
51.1
72.6
83.4
89.6
94.1
95.9
97.9
98.5
99.7
99.7
100.0

1.3
6.3
28.8
50.0
68.7
72.5
81.2
91.2
93.7
100.0

Less than 1 , 000

Less than 1 , 100 ...

Less than 1 200

Less than 1 , 300

Less than 1,400

Less than 1 , 500 ....

Less than 1 , 600 .

Less than 1 , 700

Less than 1 , 800

Less than 1 , 900

Less than 2 , 000

Less than 2 , 100

Less than 2 200

Less than 2,300

Less than 2 , 400 ....

Thus, half of the Negro chief wage earners receive less than
$1,200 a year as compared to approximately 20 per cent of the
white chief wage earners. (All the chief wage earners were

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC FACTORS IN NEGRO HOUSING 61

males, married, and having at least one child under fourteen.)
Six per cent of the white chief wage earners earned more than
$1,800, but none of the Negro.

Speaking specifically of the relation of rent to income in the
white and Negro families, Dr. Houghteling says : 14

"Taking the group as a whole, nearly one-half spent between 10 and 20
per cent of the father's earnings for rent ; a little over one-fourth spent be-
tween 20 and 30 per cent for rent. . . . More than 80 per cent of the
colored families spent 20 per cent or more of the earnings of the chief
wage earners for rent, while among the white families only 30 per cent
paid that large a proportion."

The two following tables adapted from the same study are il-
luminating. The family fund includes income from lodgers, work-
ing mothers and children, investments, and all other sources :

Table V.

All

White

Colored

Families

Per Cent of Earnings

of Chief Wage Earner

Per

Spent for Rent*

Num-

Cent

Num-

Cent

Num-

Cent

ber

Distri-

ber

Distri-

ber

Distri-

bution

Total Reported

301

100.0

226

100.0

Less than 10

8 3

11 1

10-19

147

48 8

133

58 9

18 7

20-29

27 6

24 4

37 3

30-39 . .

8 3

3 5

22 6

40-49

3.7

1.3

10 7

50 and over

3.3

10.7

* Houghteling, Leila, The Income and Standard of Living of Unskilled
Laborers in Chicago, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1927, p. 113.

It is a striking fact that although 1 1 per cent of the white heads
of families and 23 per cent of the white families fall in the less
than 10 per cent group, there are no Negroes under the 10 per
cent level in either table; and whereas the proportion of whites
in the highest percentage for rent class is less than one per cent,

ulbid.f p. 112.

NEGRO HOUSING

10 per cent of Negro chief wage earners and
Negro families are in that class.

Table VI.

per cent of

All

White

Colored

Families

Per Cent of

Family Fund
Spent for Rent*

Num-

Per

Cent

Num-

Per
Cent

Num-

Per
Cent

ber

Distri-

ber

Distri-

ber

Distri-

bution

Total Reported

334

100 0

254

100 0

Less than 10

17.7

23 2

10-19

171

51.1

146

57 5

31 4

20-29

21 6

16 1

38 7

30-39

7.2

2.4

22.4

40-49

2.4

7.5

* Houghteling, Leila, The Income and Standard of Living of Unskilled
Laborers in Chicago, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1927, p. 113.

Pittsburgh: Two studies15 made in the same year, 1929 (one
in the late winter and early spring and the other in midsummer),
permit a check on rental and income in the Hill District of Pitts-
burgh.

Table VII. Income and Rental, Hill District, Pittsburgh.

Hall Reid

Average weekly family income $32.02 $29.10

Average weekly wage, male head of family 27.09 27.24

Median weekly wage 31.00 31.80

Median monthly rent 38.00 36.70

Average monthly rent 32.76

Percentage of families having lodgers 33.34 35.00

Per cent of total family income for rent (average) 24.4 38.1

Estimate of People's Savings Trust Co. for city as a whole.

14.62

15 Hall, Wiley A., Negro Housing and Rents in the Hill District of Pitts-
burgh, (M. A. Thesis) University of Pittsburgh, 1929. (Unpublished.)

Reid, Ira De A., Social Conditions of the Negro in the Hill District of
Pittsburgh, General Committee on the Hill Survey, Pittsburgh (National
Urban League), 1930.

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC FACTORS IN NEGRO HOUSING 63

As to rent and income, Mr. Hall reports that 24.4 per cent of
the total family income (which includes the contribution of one
lodger to every three families) went for rent. It is to be noted
also in this connection that in the great majority of these dwellings
heat is not supplied by the landlord. In his study, Mr. Reid points
out that in one-fourth of the families the mother also worked
away from home ; yet, he adds, in only 23 per cent of the families
was the income for one week greater than the monthly rent.

Students of family income and expenditures generally set the
reasonable proportion of the family income to be spent for rent
at 20 per cent or less. A study of small-wage earners in Chicago 16
found the following proportions of families in three racial groups
paying out more than 20 per cent of their incomes for rent : Mexi-
can, 22.9 per cent ; other foreign-born white, 34.6 per cent ; Negro,
77.2 per cent. The author says that these figures were based on
monthly earnings "of the previous month, when unemployment
had been less severe than it had been in the six months preceding
the presidential election."

The following figures also for Chicago are adapted from data
obtained in 1921 : 17

"The remaining 179 cases out of the 274 provided data from which the
following facts are presented : In three instances the rent exceeded the in-
come of the head of the family ; in thirty-one instances the rent equaled one-
half the income of the head of the family, and in an equal number it amounted
to one-third. In one case the rent was equal to three-fourths of the income,
and in twenty-three cases the rent equaled one-fourth. Thus eighty-nine in-
stances were disclosed in which the rent was in excess of one-fifth of the
income of the head of the family. In most of these cases, particularly the
extreme ones, the income of the head of the family was greatly supplemented
by money received from lodgers or from earnings of other members of the
family.

"The remaining ninety families in which the rent amounted to one-fifth
or less of the income of the head of the family were divided as follows :
Twenty-four fell in the one-fifth column, twenty-seven in the one-sixth
column, fourteen in the one-seventh column, eleven in the one-eighth column,
while fourteen were in the 'low' column. The last named included those
ranging from one-ninth to one-twenty-third."

A few conclusions from studies of other cities tend to establish
as a fact that whether in relation to the total family income or the

16 Hughes, Elizabeth A., Living Conditions for Small-Wage Earners in
Chicago, Bureau of Social Surveys, Chicago Department of Public Wel-
fare, 1925.

"The Chicago Commission on Race Relations, The Negro in Chicago,
Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1922.

54 NEGRO MOUSING

wage of the chief wage earner, the Negro's rent runs well over
20 per cent of his budget.

Detroit: "The weighted mean monthly rent for 91 families was
$47.29. . . . The average amount of rent paid monthly is approximately
equal to one-third of the average monthly wage."18

"The group of Negro families in West Harlem, in all the income levels,
shows higher actual rentals and higher percentage of income used for rent
than any other section of the city. Where other families in the city pay
about one-sixth of their income for rent, these colored families pay nearly
one-third. And although the income of the Negro family is about 17 per
cent lower than that of the typical family for the entire city, it must pay
almost three dollars more per room per month. In West Harlem, also, the
percentage of families having two or more persons per room is somewhat
higher than elsewhere (10 per cent rather than 8^2 per cent), and the per-
centage of families having more than one and less than two persons per
room is correspondingly lower." M

Comparison : 19

Table VIII. Income and Rental, New York.

Annual income

Typical Family
Entire City

.... $1 570.00

Typical Family
West Harlem

$1,300 00

Annual rent ....

31600

48000

Rent per room per month

6.67

950

Per cent of income used for rent

1923

3297

It is also the purpose of the study to obtain statements of the
earnings per month of households. These statements were not
restricted to the earnings of the heads of families, but included
the supplementary earnings of children and earnings obtained
through lodgers and otherwise. Frequently the amount of earn-
ings in a household could not be accurately stated because many of
the men were doing odd jobs and casual labor. Table IX, below,
shows the relationship of monthly earnings to the amount of
monthly rental. It is customarily accepted that at least one-fifth
of the income should go for shelter. In studying the Negro
family it would be impossible to give an accurate basis for

18 The Negro in Detroit (Section V, "Housing"), Prepared for the Mayor's
Interracial Committee, Detroit Bureau of Governmental Research, Inc., 1926.
( Mimeographed. )

19Batchelor, Carey, What the Tenement Family Has and What It Pays
for It, New York, United Neighborhood Houses, 1928. (Unpublished.)

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC FACTORS IN NEGRO HOUSING 65

monthly earnings unless supplementary incomes were added.
Even so, the proportion paying 20 per cent or more of their in-
come for rent is twenty times greater than the group paying less
than 20 per cent for shelter. It is not to be doubted that those
paying less than 20 per cent of their earnings in rent could afford
to live in better houses were they available. The houses in the
first group are of the less desirable nature — old, dark, unsanitary,
and possibly too costly at any rental. The significant thing in the
community is that apparently the small-wage-earning Negro's
family is compelled to dwell in a house for which it pays more
than it can afford on the one hand — while the houses occupied are
too costly for the returns the tenant receives.

Table IX. Per Cent Reporting Whose Rental is Specified
Per Cent of Monthly Earnings

Total, 2,326 Total reporting, 2,160 Not reporting, 166

Per cent Number

10 per cent and less than 20 per cent 4.7 102

20 per cent and less than 30 per cent 21 444

30 per cent and less than 40 per cent 26 570

More than 40 per cent 48 1,044

The amount that can be apportioned to rent is obviously affected
by the size of the income as well as the amount of rental. It was
possible to obtain statements of the aggregate earnings in one
month in 1,316 families. How representative these earnings may
be for the other eleven months may only be conjectures. As the
employment is more or less varied and not governed by any one
industry, women workers would not be affected more than men
in the several industries.

The following table shows the proportions reporting specified
earnings in a given month :

Table X. Per Cent of 1,316 Families Reporting Earnings
of Specified Amounts in One Month

Less Less Less Less Less Less $200

than than than than than than or

$75 $100 $125 $150 $175 $200 more

Families in each class 209 480 457 127 28 11 4

Per cent of total in each class 15.8 36.7 34.7 9.6 2.1 .9 .3

Cumulative per cent total... 15.8 52.5 87.2 96.8 98.8 99.7100.

NEGRO HOUSING

Paying high rental is clearly out of the question for the majority
of these families, yet on May 2, 1927, one wage earner brings a
notice from his landlord to the effect that on and after June 1,
1927, rents in the apartment house where he lives will be raised as
follows :

4 rooms from $50 to $90.

5 rooms from $60 to $100.

6 rooms from $70 to $120.

Eighty-seven per cent of the families should not pay more than
$30 per month for rent. Less than a third of the families, on the
basis of one-fifth of their incomes apportioned to rent, could
afford rentals above $40 to $45 a month. In 18 per cent of the
1,316 families, fathers were the sole bread-winners. Mothers and
wives were employed in 63 per cent of the families studied ; two
per cent had no wives or mothers ; in 35 per cent the women were
not gainfully employed. This does not include the keeping of
lodgers.20

Data gathered very recently in Elizabeth, New Jersey, a small
eastern industrial city, from 210 Negro families give the relation
of rent to family income.21

Table XI. Relation of Rent to Family Income, 210 Negro
Families, Elizabeth, N. J.

Proportion of family incomes
spent for rent
Less than 15 per cent

Number of
families
40

Per cent
distribution
1905

Cumulative
percentages

15 to 19 per cent

2952

4857

20 to 24 per cent . .

20.96

69.53

25 to 29 per cent

10.00

79.53

30 to 34 per cent

11.90

91.43

35 to 39 per cent

2.86

94.29

40 to 44 per cent

1.90

96.19

45 to 49 per cent

1.43

97.62

50 and over . ....

2.38

100.00

In one-third of these families the total family income included
wages of working wives and rent collected from lodgers. .

20 Reid, Ira De A., Twenty-four Hundred Negro Families in Harlem, New
York, New York Urban League, 1927.

21 Reid, Ira De A., The Negro Population of Elisabeth, New Jersey, Eliza-
beth Interracial Committee, 1930. (Unpublished.)

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC FACTORS IN NEGRO HOUSING 67

An analysis of the family life of two hundred Negro families
in Newark, New Jersey,22 is interpretive of the conditions pre-
viously mentioned in this section. This special analysis was made
possible by the New Jersey Conference of Social Work, which
organization is conducting a study of the social and economic
problems of Negroes in New Jersey. The two hundred families
covered in this section represent a sample of families interviewed
by investigators in Newark, New Jersey, during June, 1931.

This material on Negro family life distinctly differs from
sample studies usually presented as interpreting problems of
Negro family life from one point of view, at least, in that it
mirrors the status of the families of marginal workers during a
period of prolonged unemployment and industrial depression.
Detailed analysis of the several factors involved are given in the
tables presented in this section.

These families reside in the third and fourth wards of Newark,
areas known as zones in transition, representing to a great extent
the least desirable residential section of the city. Significant is
the fact that while 62 per cent of these families have lived in
Newark five years or less, 80 per cent of them have lived in their
present quarters for five years or less.

The total persons included in these families were 1,081, the
median size household being five persons. Of this number 515
were under sixteen years of age. These homes were relatively
free from lodgers and relatives. There was one lodger in every
eight families, while only one family in every four had relatives
residing within its abode. Heads of a few families stated that
they formerly had lodgers but had lost them when unemployment
forced them to seek work elsewhere. Thus, the median size
family was rather high. (4.7 persons.) The distribution of these
families on the basis of their composition is as follows :

Table XII. Composition of Families, Newark.

Total families 200

Families without lodgers or relatives 127

Families with lodgers 27

Families with relatives 41

Families with relatives and lodgers 5

22 By Ira De A. Reid, Director of Research, National Urban League.

68 NEGRO HOUSING

The adult portion of these families — those sixteen years of
age and over — is chiefly southern born. In fact 83 per cent of all
the adult persons were born in the following states: Alabama,
Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. Only 4
per cent were New Jersey born. On the other hand, three-fourths
of the population under sixteen were born in Newark, while less
than 1 per cent of the remaining fourth were born in the North.

These families live in single- or two-family houses; the con-
struction may be brick (in need of painting) or frame (in need
of painting). The general environmental conditions are those to
be found in any community where the municipality has seen due
cause for condemning structures as unfit for habitation. Con-
demnation and demolition of houses have been under way in this
section of Newark. In fact houses occupied by 11 families in-
cluded in this analysis have been officially condemned.

In the main these houses are lacking in modern conveniences.
Less than half of the families (86) have baths. In 59 houses the
water-closets were either in the hall or in the yard. In 51 houses
there was no electric light. In 39 houses there were one or more
windowless bedrooms. Yet, the ratio of persons to rooms (1 to 6
persons per room exclusive of kitchens and baths) was not indica-
tive of overcrowding.

What might be called the "type" family of this group lives in a
four-room frame house for which it pays $5.88 weekly or $25.58
monthly. But 37 families reported being from one to six months
in arrears with their rent. This fact points to one of the pertinent
factors in the whole situation — unemployment.

Sixty per cent of the employable persons 23 in these families
were unemployed at the time of this analysis. Of 457 (261 male,
196 female) employable persons, only 180 (126 male, 54 female)
were employed. Of 164 employed persons for whom data were
available, 112 were employed on part-time jobs only. In 96 fam-
ilies there was no wage income during the first three weeks of
June, 1931.

The median weekly wage for the 102 remaining families for
which data were available was $13.33. With a wage economy
offering little financial adjustment it became necessary for fam-

23 An employable person is herein described as a person fifteen years of
age and over, physically and mentally fit, who has previously been engaged

o+- e/"\f-n<a rf-nr»r»t5-r\oif</-k»-i

at some occupation.

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC FACTORS IN NEGRO HOUSING 69

ilies to seek supplementary income. This was had by 133 families
and averaged $5.54 weekly. However, there remained 62 fam-
ilies having no money income of any kind. The chief methods of
supplementing family incomes were public and private outdoor
relief.

Table XIII. Source of Income Other Than Earnings of

Members of the Family for 140 Families, Newark,

New Jersey.

Source of Income Distribution

1. Lodgers and boarders 27

2. Allowance from city 47

3. Widows' pension 4

4. Other pensions 5

5. Contributions, relatives * or friends 5

6. Aid from charity organizations 20

7. Miscellaneous and not stated 8

8. Policy writing commission 4

COMBINATIONS OF ABOVE SOURCES :

Sources 2 and 6 6

Sources 2 and 5 2

Sources 1 and 6 3

Sources 1 and 5 3

Sources 1 and 2 3

Sources 1 and 7

Sources 2 and 7 1

Sources 2 and 3 1

140

* Nonresident.

Some Social Implications of High Rents and Low Wages

High rents and low wages mean working mothers.

"From a total of eighty-seven Negro families, forty-one mothers or 47.1
per cent worked in comparison with sixty-seven white mothers, 17.8 per
cent of the 377 white families reported on." 2*

Of these forty-one women, the report shows further that twenty
were engaged in day work or housework and eight were laundry
workers.

High rent and low wages necessitate lodgers. Fourteen and
seven-tenths per cent of the white families and 50.6 per cent of
the Negro families in Dr. Houghteling's study had lodgers. She
says:

24 Reid, Ira De A., The Negro Population of Elisabeth, New Jersey, Eliza-
beth Interracial Committee, 1930. Unpublished.

NEGRO HOUSING

ctf
&

I
u

•S

00 OOv

r i

i i i i

I I

F 1 1 I 1 1 1

1 1 1 1

> -^ r i i i i i

| | -

I I I *» - I I I I I I I

I 1 1 1 ~

cs »H cs

-> 1 1, 1

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

f i

1 i 1

I « *> I I ~ I I

- | |

1 1 I I I I I I

- 1 1 1

1 1 ^

I I I I I - I - I I I I

^ few ^

•»* if) \O

235

t- 00 ON 0 -H

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC FACTORS IN NEGRO HOUSING 71

"This difference is not surprising as the earnings of the Negroes have
been shown to be so much lower than those of the white laborers that addi-
tional sources of income would naturally be necessary. Moreover, the fact
that Negroes are charged a proportionately higher rent than white people
often necessitates the renting of rooms in order to meet the high rent."

High rents and low wages along with segregation necessitate
overcrowding.

General Observations on Social and Economic Factors25

Though considerable thought has been given by civic associa-
tions and racial groups to the universally poor housing condi-
tions among Negroes, the wage-earning group has benefited little
from the few housing projects that have come to pass. The most
significant newer projects have not been for those who suffer most
from the ills of poor tenements, unwholesome neighborhoods, high
rents and exploitation by unscrupulous promoters. On the con-
trary, whether for renters or owners, they have been set up for
those occupying the highest income level in the race.

Better housing has come not as the result of planning but of
necessity, due to the need for more area for growing Negro popu-
lations. It was then that Negro tenants and home owners braved
intimidation from whites and moved into neighborhoods formerly
housing only whites. Riots and bloodshed frequently followed,
but the pioneers stayed until others followed and then the area
gradually was conceded to Negro occupancy. It is significant that
housing developments for Negroes did not lead the way into better
neighborhoods, but they took form only after the neighborhood
had been established as a Negro district.

Thus the bulk of Negroes still live where health standards
are hardest to maintain, where juvenile delinquency shows highest
ratio, where vice goes unchecked, and where rents are far in
excess of value and ability of occupants to meet them.

Home ownership among Negroes is increasing despite the diffi-
culties of financing and the high interest rate paid for second
mortgages. Not infrequently does the second mortgage run to
20 per cent. With urban population growing in all cities in which
Negroes live, frequently at a ratio greater than that of whites,
as for instance Chicago, Buffalo, etc., financing homes becomes

25 Prepared by the Group on Social and Economic Factors in Negro
Housing, T. Arnold Hill, Chairman.

72 NEGRO HOUSING

one of the important problems faced by Negroes in all parts of the
country.

A chief source of revenue for both renters and home buyers is
lodgers. The extent to which morals and health are jeopardized
by the promiscuous taking in of roomers has been well established
by many studies. This is one of the principal evils in Negro hous-
ing, and the failure to remedy it the principal defect in the vast
majority of projects constructed for Negro occupancy.

Though the number of homes owned by members of the race
has grown steadily, the number of new homes occupied by them
has been infinitesimal. In the South and North they have oc-
cupied houses vacated by whites after the neighborhood has
changed physical complexion through a series of deteriorating
steps. New construction has for the most part been confined to
apartment buildings with a few notable exceptions of subdivi-
sions of one-family houses. New construction, whether of apart-
ments or one-family houses, has been the work of promoters whose
first thought was financial rather than social gain. As a con-
sequence little thought has been given to architectural design, the
social status of the prospective occupants, or environmental in-
fluence for children. A study of the "invasion" of Negroes into so-
called "white" areas reveals the pioneers as socially prominent
families who had nothing in common with their less cultured
neighbors, who rebelled against vice and crime permitted by city
authorities, and who tired of looking at unkempt exteriors.

In a recent article entitled "Hovels for Homes" 26 Miss Mary
E. McDowell, quoting a housing study made by the Chicago De-
partment of Public Welfare in 1925, states :

"It is no solution of the problem of housing wage-earning families of any
nationality or color to let them have the almost worn out, slough ed-off
houses of other racial groups which have prospered enough economically to
seek more new and desirable places of residence. And yet, how pitifully
few are the examples in this country of an earnest, intelligent search for
any other way of meeting the needs of working families for decent homes."

Housing provides conditions favorable or unfavorable to health,
morals, and economic efficiency. The effect of these conditions is
just as outstanding in urban as in rural areas. The statement of

26 See Opportunity, March, 1929, Vol. 7, No. 3, p. 74, quoting from Hughes,
Elizabeth A., Living Conditions for Small-Wage Earners in Chicago, Chi-
cago Department of Public Welfare, 1925.

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC FACTORS IN NEGRO HOUSING 73

John Ihlder, Executive Director of the Pittsburgh Housing Asso-
ciation, that "the Negro housing problem in Pittsburgh as a race
problem is economic," may be applied to the total problem of
Negro housing in the United States. It is, of course, true that
during days of comparative prosperity the wages of Negro workers
have been insufficient to permit the building up of a substantial
money reserve. Consequently they, in larger proportion than
other racial groups, are compelled to live in dwellings below the
standard that is acceptable to socially minded individuals and social
agencies interested in the problem of housing. Unemployment,
with its attending problems, has made the suffering endured by
Negroes very severe. Concentrated in the poorest districts of the
city, they feel with greater intensity the poverty which attends
their low economic status.

The racial factors in the problem of housing are very largely
those prompted by whites in an attempt to limit the areas in which
Negroes may live. Attempts to crystallize this attitude in public
opinion in some instances lead to racial conflict. There are inhibi-
tions and handicaps imposed upon the Negro as a Negro. He has
not so free a choice in the selection of his residence as the white
man. Within recent years, however, in both North and South,
where there has been a surplus of dwellings, this fact has not
the significance that it had a few years ago. In several cities this
surplus of residential structures had made it possible to demolish
a number of structures to prevent their being occupied.

In the bibliography of this report, p. 260, there are listed more
than forty surveys and investigations that have revealed, from
time to time, atrocious housing conditions which shocked the
public into temporary interest ; which, because they lacked a steady,
consistent follow-up, brought little, if any, improvement in the
conditions presented. In 1928 the Council of Social Agencies in
Richmond, Virginia, conducted a most intensive survey of the
leading problems of Negroes in that city, devoting particular
attention to the problems of housing. The findings of this survey
provoked much comment and alarm. But, in September, 1931, the
Richmond (Virginia) News-Leader, in a series of eight articles
on housing, pointed out that many new houses for Negroes had
been "built in open violation of the building code of the city."

In improving the general housing situation, one of the most
fundamental approaches appears to be that of raising the stand-

74 NEGRO HOUSING

ards of the poorest housing permitted in a locality. This hap-
pens to be a housing problem, and for Negroes principally, be-
cause of their economic .condition and not because of their race.
Any constructive recommendation for improving the general
character of housing conditions among Negroes in the immediate
future should be, according to Mr. Ihlder, (previously quoted) a
double-barreled program, and includes:

1. Creating among Negroes themselves a desire for the maintenance of
pleasant, attractive neighborhoods or blocks.

2. Emphasizing to white house owners and agents that there are different
kinds of Negroes just as there are different kinds of whites, and that some
of the Negroes are among the most desirable tenants obtainable.

"An attractive Negro block or neighborhood is the best argument pos-
sible in convincing a white owner or agent that all Negroes are not shiftless
or irresponsible, an easy generalization into which lazy-minded individuals
incline to fall."

Improved housing conditions demand the cooperation of the
occupant. This can be secured only as a result of education. The
award systems developed by housing associations and employers
who fostered plans of industrial housing have succeeded in many
instances in creating a better plane of living for their occupants.
The education of the community or any particular segment of the
community in home improvement or homemaking is eminently a
matter of neighborhood concern. To communicate good standards
of housing and homemaking to those who lack them — particularly
migrant families who. have recently moved to urban centers and
who are more able than formerly to maintain them — one must
depend upon the formative power of this neighborhood influence.
Landlords and employers are not the only leaders who have at-
tempted to develop this sentiment.

Under the auspices of Better Homes in America, state Negro
Better Homes committees have been organized in thirteen states,
and between 1928 and 1931 there was an increase in the total num-
ber of local Negro Better Homes committees from 229 to 925.

One of the best known of these projects is that conducted at the
Penn School, St. Helena Island, South Carolina, where very
comprehensive and distinctive work is done each year. Cam-
paigns are conducted each year for improving home conditions in
all communities. In Topeka, Kansas, at the Phyllis Wheatley
Center, there is a home information center.

The work of the home demonstration agents in rural com-

Courtesy of Better Homes in America

The Negro Better Homes Committee of Albemarle County, Virginia,

chose this unattractive house for a reconditioning demonstration during the

Better Homes Campaign of 1928.

Courtesy of Belter Homes in America

The same house reconditioned inside and out is now being used as a home

for aged Negro women. This picture shows what paint and a few boards

and nails will do. The porch was extended over the window, the old picket

fence torn away, and a wire fence put up in its place.

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC FACTORS IN NEGRO HOUSING 75

munities of the South has also been a very positive factor in im-
proving housing of rural communities. In these sections, where
farmers live mainly in cheap buildings, erected before the land
was paid for and where the type of architecture is far from
satisfactory, there is a field for very earnest effort.

Experiments in social amelioration must be made by private
agencies. Experience has shown that, after the method has been
worked out and the practicability of the procedure demonstrated,
the city and state will satisfactorily carry on these projects. For
the homes in poorer districts, and particularly Negro homes, it is
necessary that there be competent, reliable building inspectors,
capable of enforcing proper legislation; who will condemn hope-
lessly unsanitary buildings and enforce their improvement or de-
molition. Furthermore, pressure should be brought to bear on
those municipalities that permit the constant depression of homes
for poorer groups, particularly Negroes, by tolerating inferior
paving, grading, walks, lighting, street cleaning, sanitation and
policing in neighborhoods inhabited by those who can least pro-
vide for themselves. Groups of people residing in these areas are
seldom taxpayers, but their share in the proceeds of industry is
less than any other group. In such situations, it is the business
of government, not to render worse the inequalities of distribution,
but to do something toward restoring a just balance in its applica-
tion to that portion of the social income which it exacts in taxes.

Yet, all of the faults of our present housing program are not to
be laid at the door of the owner or of the municipal government.
There is also fault with the tenant. Many are accustomed to low
standards, and if placed in model tenements would soon make
them unsightly, unsanitary and dilapidated. The erection of
model tenements themselves for a marginal group would not
necessarily improve the situation. A classic example of this is
Glasgow, Scotland, when a few years ago it decided to build new
sanitary dwellings for a portion of its slum population that was
then living in deplorable hovels. After moving the old slum
dwellers into new houses, the city fathers sat back and breathed
a sigh of relief at having solved their problem. Ten years after-
wards Glasgow discovered rather suddenly that its model homes
had become slums, only then learning that the price of good
housing is eternal vigilance.

The improvement of these conditions, however, demands more

76 NEGRO HOUSING

than a mere negation. The great American habit of generalizing
is just as responsible for this lack of improvement as it is for the
creation of these causes. In many quarters the contention is held
that Negroes do not desire improvements in their housing facil-
ities, or that at least they make no demands for them. There is,
of course, an element of truth in this contention. The respon-
sibility for improving such conditions is as much the duty of the
Negro tenant or home owner as it is that of the public official.
However, too much of our emphasis has been placed upon provid-
ing new homes for all the underprivileged. This approach to
an improvement of the housing problem is not only impractical
but impracticable. Since one of the basic factors with which
we are concerned is that the Negro is a small-wage earner, a
marginal worker, and for the present at least, is severely handi-
capped by these restrictions, and since the philanthropic projects
providing housing accommodations for Negroes have been con-
fined to a few large centers and meet the needs of only a small
portion of the population, it seems feasible that more and more
effort should be directed toward the demolishing of unfit houses
and the reconditioning of houses and neighborhoods occupied by
Negroes.

"Existing houses worthy of reconditioning constitute, today, a
vast potential resource of housing betterment" is the opinion of
one of the most active housing associations. Toward improving
these conditions and keeping in mind all of the social and economic
factors that are involved in the present problem, the body politic,
be it municipal or state, should be called upon to at least enforce
the sanitary and housing laws in the Negro areas. Cooperating in
this effort should be all the social and health groups in a particular
community. The value of such a program would be enhanced if
groups would undertake educating not only the Negro tenant in
the value of improving such neighborhoods as they already have,
but also in educating the white public — particularly landlords of
Negro dwellings — on the types of Negroes that they might pos-
sibly have as tenants. It should be shown that there are Negroes
of every stage of social development and that many of them have
standards high enough to justify the greatest care on the part of
landlords. Furthermore, property owners should be encouraged
to make available to Negro tenants good houses rather than the
many dilapidated structures that are now offered them.

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC FACTORS IN NEGRO HOUSING 77

Thus, there appear two phases of housing work that must be
carried on if this problem of housing for Negroes is to be met.
While these phases are distinct in purpose and method, they are
necessary supplements to each other.

The first of these methods sets definite minimum standards
below which no dwelling shall be permitted to fall. The Negro,
being so largely a part of the lowest-income group, is particularly
affected by these standards.

The second of these methods points the way to improved hous-
ing. It experiments, and demonstrates practical programs. Most
important in this field of social and economic factors, though it is
outside the field of housing, is the increase of tenants' income.
Nevertheless, it conditions housing. Instead of assuming that
Negroes must live in habitations rather than homes because of
their poverty, the new approach must be based upon the assump-
tion that Negroes must be given the opportunity to earn more
that they may pay an economic rent.

Two facts stand out prominently in our perusal of investigations
made on this subject: There has been no provision made for the
more or less substantial family who wants and desires a choice of
several neighborhoods, or for the poorer group who, though it
cannot afford high rents, needs a wholesome environment and
pleasant atmosphere when a hard day's work is done. There is
proof in figures and in testimony of mortgage owners that the
Negro is a good housing risk. Social statistics substantiate the
need for better homes, and the varying degrees of culture and
income within the race argue for houses of contrasting design
in districts sufficiently diverse to permit of varied choices.

It is of first importance, in a better homes project for working
classes of any racial group, that houses should be constructed in
decent neighborhoods and sold at a figure which their income will
afford and at rates which will not interfere with health, education
and happiness. The Negro is no exception to this acknowledged
rule. The appreciation of such a principle, however, requires con-
scious planning on the part of individuals who are not averse to
departing from the custom usually followed in locating houses for
all Negroes in one or more overcrowded and unhygienic neighbor-
hoods.

With such a goal there is room for a serious housing program
to correct the abuses here mentioned. Enlightened municipalities,

78 NEGRO HOUSING

many of which have already concerned themselves with housing
plans, might undertake to rid communities of unsightly and un-
healthy tenements and at the same time add to the comfort and
contentment of their Negro citizens. Private capital, of the sort
that works for humanity as well as gain, of which a goodly share
has already been spent for better homes among whites, might be
turned to Negro housing with pecuniary benefit to itself as well as
service in a much neglected cause.

CHAPTER IV
HOME OWNERSHIP

Home ownership is one index to social stability and good citizen-
ship. In 1920, about 45 per cent of all American families were
home owners. It is observed that families earning less than $1,500
a year cannot afford to buy a home that will include the neces-
sary standards of healthful and comfortable living1 unless this
is done in a section of the country where materials and labor are
cheap. It should be mentioned in this connection that the bulk of
the Negro population at present falls within the low-income ranges.
Over 67 per cent of the working population, as compared with 34
per cent of the total, are either farmers or domestic servants, and
these are notoriously low-paid occupations. There was no sepa-
rate tabulation of Negro home owners in 1920. In 1910, how-
ever, there were 506,590 home owners and 1 ,666,428 renters. The
Negro Year Book makes an estimate for 1930 of 750,000 owned
and 1,920,000 rented houses. In 1866, however, this population
owned only about 12,000 homes.

The migration of Negroes from South to North coincided with
the war-time industrial activity. Home buying was stimulated,
as a means of escaping the congested and restricted rental areas.
Some of these migrants continued their ownership of homes in
the South.

Authentic information as to Negro home ownership of recent
date is scarce. The most detailed information on the subject is
probably found in Negro Problems in Cities edited by Woofter;
in The Negro in Chicago, the report of the Chicago Commission
on Race Relations ; and in Jones' Housing of Negroes in Wash-
ington, D. C. These are supplemented by other less pretentious
studies and interviews in a number of southern cities.2

Woofter's study covered fifteen cities North and South, and
the other two were studies of their respective localities. He noted

1 Better Homes Manual, edited by Blanche Halbert, Chicago, University of
Chicago Press, 1931.

2 From report of Group on Social and Economic Factors in Negro Hous-
ing, T. Arnold Hill, Chairman.

80 NEGRO HOUSING

a marked increase in home buying among Negroes between 1910
and 1920 and a greater increase between 1920 and 1925. The
reasons assigned for this increase include increasing of oppor-
tunities in industry, higher wages, and a growing familiarity with
urban living conditions. His study of eight southern and seven
northern cities revealed the following facts about home ownership
in 1920:

1. Four southern cities showed a large increase over 1910.

2. Two southern cities showed a steady increase.

3. Two southern cities showed a decrease in the total number of Negro
homes, but an increase in the number of homes owned by Negroes.

4. All the northern cities indicated some buying, with Dayton, Ohio, at
the top of the list and New York City at the bottom. (Table XVI, p. 81.)

5. Negro home ownership in the North had about doubled since 1910.

Three cities are surveyed in some detail : Memphis, New York
City, and Chicago.

In Memphis from 1910 to 1920 the percentage of occupant-
owned homes increased from 11 per cent to 15 per cent. The
table below indicates the rapidity of Negro home buying in
Memphis : 3

Table XV. Comparison of Negro Home Ownership, 1910-
1920, Memphis.

Per Cent

1910 1920 Increase

Total homes 14,878 19,132 28.6

Total owned 1,672 2,867 71.5

Owned free 1,039 1,673 61.0

Owned mortgaged 522 940 80.0

Owned unknown Ill 254

The high percentage of mortgaged houses, it is explained, is
somewhat indicative of the rate of buying, as a mortgaged house
usually means a comparatively recent investment, while a house
owned free usually indicates buying started years before.

Negroes are buying largely in outlying woods and new areas in

"Adapted from Headley, Madge, "Housing," (Woofter, T. J. Jr. and
Associates, Negro Problems in Cities, Garden City, N. Y., Doubleday, Doran
and Company, Inc., 1928), pp. 115-170. Table XXIX, p. 139.

HOME OWNERSHIP

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82 NEGRO HOUSING

Memphis and in other cities. As old areas of Negro residence are
encroached upon by the expansion of the business district, the
thriftier Negroes move out and try to buy rather than search for
new places to rent.

Home buying is difficult, it is pointed out, for any class of wage
earners in New York City because of the high value of land and
the tenement house development. Yet individual Negroes have
bought some property in New York City since 1920, and there
are several cases of cooperative buying of apartment houses. The
Rockefeller project, the Paul Laurence Dunbar Garden Apart-
ments, is the best known, but not the only one, of the latter. It is
estimated that Negroes own over $2,000,000 worth of property in
Harlem. There are several blocks, notably the ones in 139th
Street and 138th Street, where high-grade one- family dwellings
are owned by their Negro occupants. Brooklyn, the Bronx, and
especially 'Queens Borough, show a higher percentage of owned
homes than does Manhattan, indicating again that Negroes, like
other people who move to outlying sections, are more likely to be
home owners than those who remain near the center of the city.

Table XVII.

Negro Home Ownership in Five Boroughs New York City,

1920 5

Borough
Brooklyn

Total
homes
.... . 7791

Owned
homes
477

Per cent
owned
61

Bronx . .

975

Manhattan

26 156

184

Queens

1 173

370

31 5

Richmond

317

179

Total City

36412

1 163

In Chicago the percentage of homes owned is much greater in
the outlying wards where Negroes have gone than in the second
and third wards where the bulk of the Negroes still remained in
1920.

6 Ibid., p. 141.

HOME OWNERSHIP

Table XVIII.

Negro Home Ownership in Seven Wards, Chicago, 1920 6

Total Owned Per cent

Ward homes homes owned

Two 10,714 558 5.2

Three 4,369 346 7.9

Six 1,463 149 10.2

Fourteen 1,744 69 4.0

Thirty 1,944 106 5.5

Thirty-one 1,061 209 19.7

Thirty-two 399 189 47.4

Total City . . 25,684 1^2 ^4

"Ward thirty-two includes the colony in Morgan Park, which is
made up of families with a keen home-owning desire, progressive
ideals and civic pride, and who are actively working to obtain
municipal improvements in sewers, paving, and water supply." 7

However, since 1920 in both North and South there has been
a tremendous increase in the amount of city properties owned by
Negroes. Reports from Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia
show losses in farm properties owned by Negroes compensated
by increases in the acquisition of city property. In North Caro-
lina, Negroes in 1928 owned 62,009 city lots as compared with

Table XIX.

Value of City Property, 1923 and 1928, Georgia, North
Carolina and Virginia

State

Value

Increase

1923

1928

Amount

Per Cent

Georgia

$20,179,456
30,332,118
20,065,409*

$24,726,311
46,301,013
29,452,629

$ 4,546,846
15,968,895
9,387,220

22.5
52.6
46.6

North Carolina. .
Virginia

* For year 1922.

6 Ibid., p. 142. Data from the Federal Census.

''Ibid., p. 143.

84 NEGRO HOUSING

46,065 in 1923. The value of city properties owned by Negroes
in 1928 as compared with 1923 for the States of Georgia, North
Carolina, and Virginia is shown in Table XIX.8

The relationship between migration and the ownership of home
sites is becoming more and more apparent. A current study of
the Negro in New Jersey is showing that the concentration of
migrant Negro groups in certain areas was due to the activity of
certain real estate companies in selling northern properties to
southern Negroes.9 Thus, the Negro colony in Mizpah, Cumber-
land County, is largely composed of Negroes who formerly lived
in Arkansas, Tennessee, and Georgia. In Gloucester County, New
Jersey, there are other Negro settlements. The lots were sold to
Negro families on the proverbial shoe string, while a cooperating
lumber dealer furnished materials for building on equally low
terms. All of these communities lack modern improvements and
represent the shifting scenes in this problem of home ownership.

Special local studies offer figures on the extent and character of
ownership in a number of cities, North and South. The tax
assessor's records for Albany, New York, showed Negro property
values ranging from $700 to $8,000, with an aggregate value of
$225,000. In a total of 255 houses, 65 were owned.10 Elizabeth
Hughes found 11 per cent of the Negro small- wage earners in
Chicago as compared with 17 per cent of the native whites owning
their homes. There were no Mexican home owners.11 "Families
have found," she says, "that only by purchasing a home could they
be at all assured of a place in which to live at a cost which would
not be considerably beyond their control or calculation." In
Columbus, Ohio, 175 of 684 households, about a fourth, owned
their homes.12

8 See Work, Monroe N., Editor, The Negro Year Book, Tuskegee, Ala.,
1931-1932, pp. 118-119.

9 Survey of Negro Life in New Jersey, Interracial Committee, New Jersey
Conference of Social Work. (Final report will be ready in 1932.)

10 Reid, Ira De A., The Negro Population of Albany, N. Y., New York,
National Urban League, 1928.

"Hughes, Elizabeth A., Living Conditions for Small-Wage Earners in
Chicago, Bureau of Social Surveys, Chicago Department of Public Wel-
fare, 1925.

"Mark, Mary Louise, Negroes in Columbus (Ohio), (Section on Hous-
ing Conditions), Department of Sociology, Ohio State University, Colum-
bus, Ohio State University Press, 1928.

*
HOME OWNERSHIP 85

The Mayor's Interracial Committee of Detroit found 312
owners in 1,000 homes studied. That there were recent purchases
was indicated in the fact that only 81 of these 312 owned these
homes clear. The average value of 25.5 of these buildings was
$5,323, and values ranged from $500 to $20,000.13

In Philadelphia in 1920, 3,278, or 10 per cent, of 30,995 Negro
families owned homes; an intimate study by the Department of
Public Welfare in 1927 gave 15 per cent owners, and 11 per cent
in Pittsburgh. The former city had 33 Negro building and loan
associations, while there was none in Pittsburgh.14

Southern Cities

The extent of property ownership by Negroes has, in the past,
been greater in the South than in the North. The largest amount
of ownership is found in West Virginia. Charleston has 45.8 per
cent owners with an aggregate valuation of $1,237,600.15 In Beck-
ley 95 per cent of the Negro residents own their homes.16

In Dallas, Texas,17 about 30 per cent of the homes were owned,
and in Richmond, Virginia, about 39 per cent.18 In one ward
Negroes owned property valued at $828,980. In Washington,
D. C., Negroes have made a special point of ownership although
property values are high. Among 545 homes studied, 46.5 per cent
were owners.19

13 The Negro in Detroit (Section V, "Housing"), Prepared for the Mayor's
Interracial Committee, Detroit Bureau of Governmental Research, Inc., 1926.
( Mimeographed. )

14 Washington, Forrester B., Negro Survey of Pennsylvania, Department
of Welfare, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, 1927.

15 The Negro in West Virginia, "Housing Conditions" — A Survey of
Negro Population of Charleston, West Virginia, Report of the Bureau of
Negro Welfare and Statistics, Charleston, West Virginia, 1921-1922.
(T. Edward Hill, Director.)

16 A Survey of 'Negro Housing and Home Ownership of Beckley, West
Virginia, made by Professor W. C. Matney of Bluefield Institute, May,
1928, under the auspices of the Bureau of Negro Welfare and Statistics,
Charleston, West Virginia, (J. W. Robinson, Director.)

17 A Survey of Negro Housing in Dallas, Texas, The Dallas Committee on
Interracial Cooperation, Civic Federation of Dallas, 1924-1925. (Manu-
script.)

18 Knight, Charles Louis, Negro Housing in Certain Virginia Cities,
(Richmond, Lynchburg and Charlottes ville), (University of Virginia,
Phelps-Stokes Fellowship Paper No. 8) Richmond, The William Byrd
Press, 1927.

19 Jones, William Henry, The Housing of Negroes in Washington, D. C.,
Washington, Howard University Press, 1929.

86 NEGRO HOUSING

A new habit with regard to home ownership is reported from
New Orleans, and a marked increase has been noted. One builder
opened a Negro addition, selling exclusively to Negroes on low
terms, and has been marvelously successful. In some cities
elaborate homes have been built by Negroes of means.

The influence of home ownership is readily observed in the
care and attractiveness of property, its state of repair, site, and
gradually increasing value. Corson found twice as many owners
as renters in Richmond, Virginia, in locations with good drainage,
and the Civic Federation of Dallas, Texas, noted nearly four
times as many owned as rented homes falling in Class "A," and
about the same disproportion in favor of home owners in the num-
ber of uninhabitable dwellings.

Home Ownership and Family Stability

A most significant study is that of E. Franklin Frazier dealing
with the extent to which the Negro in Chicago was able to achieve
a relatively stable and permanent family life.20 One index em-
ployed was that of home ownership. He observed :

"Nothing showed so vividly as the progressive stabilization of Negro
family life in the seven zones21 of the community as the increase in home
ownership for the successive areas. Although in 1920 less than one Negro
family out of every fourteen owned its home in Chicago, from the point of
view of the distribution of home ownership in the Negro community, this
was true only of the families in the fourth zone or the center of the com-

20 Frazier, E. Franklin, The Negro Family in Chicago, Chicago, Univer-
sity of Chicago Press, 1932, pp. 128-135.

21 The Negro population on the South Side extends from Twelfth Street
to Seventy-first Street and is confined mainly between Wentworth Avenue
on the west and Cottage Grove Avenue and the Lake on the east. Because
of the size of the census tracts it has not been possible to mark off areas of
equal length, although they are approximately a mile in their southern and
northern extension. The results of the calculation of the percentage of
Negroes in each occupational class are given for males and females. . . .
It has also been possible to calculate the percentage of women employed and
the percentage of families owning their homes for these areas. The first and
second areas extend for a distance of ten blocks each, from Twelfth to
Twenty-second Street and from Twenty-second to Thirty-second Street.
The next area extends from Thirty-second to Thirty-ninth Street, a distance
of only seven blocks, while the next three areas extend for a distance of
eight blocks each. While the last area extends from Sixty-third to Sixty-
seventh Street for the distribution of the occupational classes, in the case of
home ownership it has been possible to calculate the percentage for eight
blocks, or to Seventy-first Street.

HOME OWNERSHIP 87

munity. The three zones north and south of this area varied considerably
in respect to home ownership. In the first zone, where there was consider-
able crowding * of the poorer migrant families from the South in the lowest
type of houses f in which Negroes lived, there was no home ownership.
Descriptions of the dwellings at the time showed that:

'. . . Most of these dwellings were frail, flimsy, tottering, unkempt and some
of them literally falling apart. Little repairing is done from year to year.
Consequently their state grows progressively worse, and they are now
even less habitable than when the surveys quoted at the beginning of this
section were made. The surroundings in these localities were in a condition
of extreme neglect, with little apparent effort to observe the laws of sanita-
tion. Streets, alleys, and vacant lots contained garbage, rubbish, and litter of
all kinds. It is difficult to enforce health regulations.'

"In the next zone, where white people still lived in the large, well-built,
and ornate dwellings on the once fashionable residential streets — Michigan,
Indiana, and Prairie Avenues — Negro families had filtered in and occupied
the hundreds of old houses that surrounded the white homes.$ Only about
one Negro family out of every hundred was living in its own home. The
forty-six families who owned their homes represented a small group of
thrifty and rising families in the Negro population. . . .

"Home ownership in the third zone showed a decided increase, for about
one Negro family out of every sixteen owned its home. On the whole the
houses in this area showed age and were rapidly deteriorating. But, on
Grand Boulevard and South Park Avenue, Negroes of the professional and
business classes had bought the substantial old family residences that had
been abandoned by whites. There were other neighborhoods of Negro prop-
erty owners, belonging chiefly to the upper classes, who attempted to resist
the disorganization that characterized this area.

* "Zone 1 showed a higher average number of families and persons per
dwelling than any zone in the South Side community. . . ."

t ". . . Concerning the classification of houses inhabited by Negroes, the
report" (The Negro in Chicago, by the Chicago Commission on Race Rela-
tions, published in 1922, at page 186) "gave the following : 'A rough classi-
fication of Negro housing according to types, ranging from the best, de-
signated as "Type A," to the poorest, designated as "Type D," was made by
the Commission on the basis of a block survey comprising 238 blocks, cover-
ing all the main areas of Negro residences and data concerning 274 families,
scattered through 238 blocks, one or two to a block, whose histories and
housing experiences were intensively studied by the Commission's investiga-
tors. Approximately 5 per cent of Chicago's Negro population live in
"Type A" houses, 10 per cent in "Type B," 40 per cent in "Type C," and
45 per cent in the poorest, "Type D." '

$ "Many of the homes in this area were described as follows : 'In a large
number of buildings families were obliged to use common toilets located in
halls or backyards. The dwellings were out of repair in some respects in
nearly every instance. Defects of this kind were often in the plumbing. Leaky
toilets or water pipes were common complaints. Some toilets did not flush.
Some sinks were leaky, as were some of the roofs.' "

88 NEGRO HOUSING

"The slight increase in home ownership in the next zone indicated the
same tendency of the upper levels of the Negro population and more stable
families to seek a congenial environment. Representative of this group
was the family of a physician who came from a settlement of free mulattoes
in one of the northern States. This physician's paternal grandfather was
among those free mulattoes who left the State of North Carolina early
in the nineteenth century, when restrictive legislation was passed against
this group and helped to establish this settlement. Soon after this physician
began the practice of medicine in Chicago he bought a home in Ravenswood,
but later moved to the South Side. He said :

The only reason that I moved away from there— my children were getting
up where they would be eight or nine years of age and we had an idea we
wanted them to meet with children of their own race whom they would be
associated with in the future.'

"His experience on the South Side was typical of the efforts of the upper
classes to maintain the character of their neighborhoods in harmony with
their standards of living.

". . . In the sixth zone, between Garfield Boulevard and Sixty-third
Street, where 857 Negro families were living in 1920, ninety-nine families
owned their homes. The proportion of families owning their homes in this
area was nearly 50 per cent higher than the average for the entire Negro
population in the city. Home ownership in this zone was not evenly dis-
tributed, for the general character of this area was affected by railroad
lines on the west and south. The families that found their way into the
areas bordering the railroad property were on a lower level of culture than
those that have moved into the more desirable sections. On the whole, the
increase in home ownership in this zone was due to the presence of the
more industrious and stable families who were distinguished from the mass
of the Negro population. There was a relatively large percentage of skilled
laborers and a smaller percentage of the women employed than in any other
zone except the seventh. Moreover, this area had a somewhat larger per-
centage of the professional classes than any of the areas north of this zone.
One of the first families of the professional class to move into the most
desirable section of this zone was a dentist of national renown, who was
married to a woman who could boast of six generations of free ancestry.
Members of her immediate family had distinguished themselves, while others
had intermarried with some of the most successful Negro families in the
country. Since 1920, members of the professional classes and those possess-
ing some background of culture have continued to move into this section.
At the same time, as this area has become more completely a Negro section,
less desirable families have settled here and forced the older inhabitants to
look elsewhere for a congenial environment.

"The better-class families have been seeking better neighborhoods in the
seventh zone beyond Sixty-third Street. In the section of this zone which
forms a part of Woodlawn there has been for many years a small group of
Negro families who represented the most stable elements in the Negro popu-

HOME OWNERSHIP 89

lation.§ In 1920, 30 per cent of these families, some of whom were of the
professional classes, owned their homes. Many of these houses were single-
family residences. Eight of the twenty families that had moved beyond
Sixty-seventh Street were also home owners. . . ." 22

Individual Home Building on Small Capital

The human story of individual home buying by one of the Negro
families in a southern city is given in the following document : 23

Here's the situation: When I decided to try and build, I bought a lot of
good old lumber and started storing it up. It was a struggle for me, for I
was renting and had to pay $16.00 a month for rent ; then I had my mother
and my sister's children with me, and of course their father was mighty nice
and helped them a lot, but you know how it is with children ; he would send
them a pair of shoes, but the upkeep of those shoes would be on me and you
know how much fixing it takes to keep children's shoes in good shape. Of
course it was like that in all of their clothes and I had to feed them too.
But I tried to save a little, and as soon as I got together a few things I
began working. First, I built up the piers, and they stayed there so long
that sometimes I would come back in the morning and they would be torn
down by people who wanted to go through. You see this was a vacant lot
and there was a wagon road through here and people used to pass all the
time. They would just pull them down and go through.

Well, I had a little Christmas savings and we had bought up some good
lumber, so I decided to make a little start. I just meant to put up two
little rooms and a shed on the back of the lot and then build the house I
wanted in the front as I got the money. I went to a lumber yard and out-
lined everything to them and told them as soon as I got the Christmas sav-
ings in November I would pay them if they would let me have the lumber
at that time. I got the lumber, and the man I got to frame it up for me
said since I had so much lumber it would be cheaper to just build the kind
of house I wanted at once, so we started. After I framed it up, the money
ran out and I had to let it stand for five or six months before I could get
a top on it. When I was working on the house I had a regular job, and I
would get up at four o'clock in the morning and work on it until seven, then
go home to breakfast and to work ; I would come from work and come right
back over here and work until dark ; I wouldn't even stop to eat when I got

§ "Other settlements of Negroes showed variations in home ownership that
reflected the general culture of these areas. In Roseland, where there was
a stable family life, forty-seven of the sixty families owned their homes.
Seventy-three per cent of the Negro families in Morgan Park were home
owners, and in Englewood 25 per cent of the families owned their homes. On
the Near West Side only 3 per cent of the families were home owners, while
in the settlement on the Near North Side there were no home owners. . . ."
p. 135.

22Frazier, E. Franklin, The Negro Family in Chicago, Chicago, Univer-
sity of Chicago Press, 1932.

23 From an unpublished Study in the Department of Social Science, Fisk
University.

90 NEGRO HOUSING

home from work, and I guess that was one of the reasons my health failed.
People would pass by and wonder why I did not finish the house ; I thought
that was a silly thing for them to ask because they ought to have known
that if I had had the money I would have finished it. They said it would
rot down before I got through, but I just kept going, and as soon as I
would get a little ahead I would get something else to put on it and work a
little more. I got a friend to speak to a man for some shingles for me and
they cost me $140.00 ; after I got that, I saved up a little more and got men
to put the top on. Then I decided that that sixteen dollars we were paying
for rent would help us out a lot, so we decided to move on up. It was real
warm and we knew we would not take cold and the roof would keep the
rain out. When we moved in we didn't have any doors or windows, but we
soon saved enough to get some outside doors, and finally we got enough to
get plastering to fix two rooms and we got that done just before Christmas.
I was working steady then, but it was a hard pull because I had so much on
me. We didn't buy so much old lumber. I couldn't keep up with the bills
or the payments either. You see they were so scattering ; we started buying
about five years ago.

I chose this neighborhood because I thought it was going to grow up.
It was mostly all vacant then — just commons around here, and the folks
give me a bad go when I was building it. They all said it would rot down
before I finished it. Most people don't have the trouble I did; they just buy
it and have to meet monthly notes themselves and they don't know anything
of the struggle of building it bit by bit themselves as we did.

This is not the first home I had or, rather, it isn't the first one I bar-
gained for. I bargained to buy a home in Atlanta, and I didn't have any
money to send back when I moved here, so I just gave it up. But I'll tell
you just what caused me to start buying out here. When we first came to

Nashville, we just rented a room with Mr. (on Fisk campus), and we

were light housekeeping there, but my wife got tired of that and she wanted
to housekeep for herself; so I told her to go ahead and find the kind of
house she wanted and we would rent it. She did find a house and we decided
to take it ; then she went downtown and bought some things and fixed it up.
You know I am this sort of a man — if I live in a place, I believe in keeping it
clean and doing little things to keep it looking nice around the yard and
house, no matter whose house it is ; so we'd get those places and clean up
and make the yard look good, and just as soon as we got it looking to suit
us, some one would come along and want to buy it and we'd have to move.
Before we fixed it up, nobody would notice it, but just as soon as we got it
fixed, here they'd come wanting it and it just kept us moving all the time.
You know that makes a bad impression on our friends, and especially on
the folks back home. I could make all sorts of explanations to prove that it
wasn't our fault that we had to move so much, but you know folks would
never believe that the reason we gave would be the real one; they'd just
think' that we had a bad break here or something and wasn't doing no good ;
so I just wanted to be stationary so that when I write to my folks they could
continue to write me at that address and not be changing every year or two.
The last time I had to move, it was three or four months before I found a

HOME OWNERSHIP 91

house that was decent. Of course you know you can always find some kind
of a house, but I wanted a decent house in a decent neighborhood; so I just
decided that I would build my little shack in the back of the yard, but I was
making good money then, and when my friend said it would be cheaper to
build the kind of house I wanted I went on with it, and where I had enough
to build the little house I planned at first, after I decided to go on with the
permanent house, it took all of the money to get the frame up.

I wouldn't sell it for less than $6,500 now, and I would have to have most
of that cash to let it go for that now. Even if I could get my price for it,
I imagine I would be jealous of the person who bought it. I have sacrificed
too much to get it in the first place and I have done too much of the work
myself ; then I like this spot for a home, but my wife has been sick so much
and I have had so much sickness myself and work has been so scarce that
I just don't know what to do.

General Observations on Negro Home Ownership

Summarizing the tendencies in Negro home ownership, these
items may be noted :

1. Home buying in northern cities has about doubled since 1920.

2. In certain cities of the South the increase in Negro home buying has
been more rapid than the increase for the cities as a whole.

3. In northern cities there has been a rapid increase in home buying, but
the dwellings purchased by Negroes have been, in large part, old and diffi-
cult to keep in repair.

4. Special difficulties are encountered in financing of Negro homes.

5. New housing developments are not freely open to Negroes, either in
the North or South, except where they are sponsored by Negroes, or
exclusively for them.

6. When these developments are sponsored by Negroes, the lack of capital,
the difficulty of securing municipal improvements, and the enforced removal
from proximity to work render them too hazardous to encourage full Negro
financial support.

CHAPTER V
FINANCING OF NEGRO HOME BUYING

Home buying by Negroes is controlled by their level of in-
come, by factors inherent in the types of property and neighbor-
hoods available, and by their understanding of what constitutes
sound investment in property. Few Negro prospective buyers are
able to pay cash, and thus it becomes necessary to borrow. Public
opinion has not strongly favored purchases in the so-called
"white" residence areas. Moreover, new developments, lacking
in municipal improvements, are not encouraging for loans. The
area in which loans can be made most freely, from the point of
view of public opinion, is, ironically enough, the area most open to
influences which make the financing of properties within it a
speculation.

"An important factor in the housing problem is the low security rating
given by real estate loan concerns to property tenanted by Negroes. Be-
cause of this Negroes are charged more than white people for loans, find it
more difficult to secure them, and thus are greatly handicapped in efforts
to buy or improve property. . . .

"When districts become exclusively Negro this reluctance to invest or to
lend invariably appears. If there are sufficient Negroes with money to
create a market, the loss is somewhat relieved. Yet, deprived of the usual
facilities for purchasing a home, they cannot relieve their housing shortage
and are forced to seek houses in unfriendly neighborhoods.

"The factors are similar to those in depreciation, often based on prejudices
and erroneous beliefs concerning Negroes. Whatever depreciates real estate
necessarily depresses its security value — whether the cause be fact or opinion.

A bank had difficulty in selling Negro loans to white people because

they say 'they don't keep up the property; they let it deteriorate; they don't
improve it'."1

The Elements of Risk in Financing Negro Properties

The age of the houses in the Negro residence areas, and the
general aspect of deterioration, along with the fact that few new
houses are built, help to explain the reluctance of banks and finan-
cial agencies to make investments in these sections.

1 The Chicago Commission on Race Relations, The Negro in Chicago,
Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1922, pp. 215-216.

FINANCING OF NEGRO HOME BUYING 93

"The increase in buying in northern cities started at a time when loan
money was in demand and rates high. Negroes bought old properties, and
had great difficulty in getting mortgage money, even at advanced rates,
partly because of the depreciated values of the houses they purchased and
partly because of prejudice against a new type of clients. Mortgage firms
willing to take the paper found difficulty in selling it. . . ." 2

Not only are the older areas prohibitive of loans but most of the
concerns believe that the sales value of property in newly acquired
areas is lowered with Negro residence. Where there is little
likelihood of the neighborhood's rapidly becoming all Negro there
has frequently occurred a disturbance of these values. That the
values return, whether the neighborhood remains but slightly
affected or changes complexion entirely, is not of great importance
to investors who seek immediate and obvious security for their
investments.

Where Negro property of any sort is concerned, it is usually felt
that the buying market is restricted to Negroes. This is some-
times true. From the point of view of the investor, the range of
bargaining is narrowed and profits limited to what this group is
able or willing to pay. It has seldom been observed that they pay
less, but this does not affect the theory, which is reasonable. There
are other obvious factors affecting the value of Negro properties.
They almost never lie in the path of residential development, and
thus the chances for enhancement of values are reduced.

Mortgages on Negro Property

The problem of loans for Negroes, on both first and second
mortgages, is bound up with the economics of the situation.3 In-
stitutions, banks and insurance companies, which are the largest
takers of mortgage loans, are not interested in small loans, and the
Negro purchaser's equity is, as a rule, too small to induce a loan
of reasonable size at a reasonable rate of interest. Their income
is low, as has been pointed out in another section, their securities
and savings meager, and their chances of meeting regular monthly
payments contingent upon their status as marginal workers.
Where loans are made to them at all, it is regarded as justification

2 Headley, Madge, "Housing," (Woofter, T. J. Jr. and Associates, Negro
Problems in Cities, Garden City, N. Y., Doubleday, Doran and Company,
Inc., 1928), pp. 143-144.

8 From a memorandum prepared by L. D. Milton, Vice President and
Cashier of the Citizens Trust Company, Atlanta, Georgia.

94 NEGRO HOUSING

that the interest and fees should be made large enough to give a
measure of insurance against the risks involved. Some banks thus
draw lines excluding Negro loans and Negro property completely.
The discrimination is often, however, more economic than real.
Financial institutions feel it necessary to keep their assets in such
shape as to rehandle them with other financial institutions.4 This
desire to standardize investments in mortgage loans undoubtedly
limits the amounts that can be advanced to Negroes for home
ownership and home building.

The Columbus study, which has been cited before, included
inquiries among real estate men:

"The opinion seems to be almost unanimous among white men who deal
in residential property that the coming of Negroes into a white neighbor-
hood lowers the sale value of homes in that district. A man representing
a building and loan company says that the Negroes as a race do not keep
their property up and so they soon make a community undesirable for a
good class of white people. He cites the principal Negro districts in the
city as evidence. Knowing what the effect will be, many whites try to sell
their homes as soon as Negroes move into the neighborhood, thus throwing
many properties on the market and lowering the sale value.

"Another man who has done considerable business with the Negroes
says the effect of Negroes' coming into a community depends upon condi-
tions already existing in the community. If the section is a first-class white
neighborhood, and there is little likelihood of its becoming a distinctly Negro
neighborhood, property values go down. But if the neighborhood is already
in a run down condition the coming of colored people may increase the
values. This, he says, was true north of Mt. Vernon Avenue near Gallo-
way Avenue. The pressure of so many Negroes needing homes and their
eagerness to go into the district caused prices to rise. This man does not
think the Negroes have had any effect upon property values in the West
Goodale Street district or in the South Side district. In those districts
property values had already depreciated somewhat with the coming of the
foreigner.

"A building and loan official says that the immediate effect is always
depreciation in value of property because the presence of Negroes in any
neighborhood makes it less desirable for whites. If, however, the property
is not already too high for the average Negro to purchase, the number of
Negro prospective buyers tends to increase the prices after the first period
of depreciation. . . ." B

Thus, loans for such types of prospective home owners fall to pri-
vate funds, the cost of which is high because of the greater risks

4 Ibid.

6 Mark, Mary Louise, Negroes in Columbus (Ohio), (Section on Housing
Conditions), Department of Sociology, Ohio State University, Columbus,
Ohio State University Press, 1928.

FINANCING OF NEGRO HOME BUYING 95

generally sustained by the private lender. These limitations, it
would seem, while rigid and impersonal, are not fundamentally
racial, although they bear down hardest upon Negroes because of
their circumstances. Otherwise it is possible for Negroes to
borrow money, legitimately, on mortgages.

"The largest savings bank here makes almost daily advances of this kind,
and our life insurance companies take another large block. The president of
the Georgia Savings Bank advised me today that fully 30 per cent or more
than two million dollars in loans is on Negro property. There is no way
of estimating how much private money is loaned, but I do know definitely
that private sources are carrying tremendous amounts. I do not know of
a single deserving instance even during the present disturbed economic con-
ditions where it was impossible for a Negro with a business proposition to
obtain a loan. I do admit, however, that some organizations will make
such loans under no circumstance, probably because of the class risk that
I have outlined above.

"As peculiar as it might seem, our Negroes with the largest incomes are
usually the poorest mortgage risks. Conversation with heads of financial
institutions here brings almost unanimous opinion that the servant who buys
a small piece of realty, requires a small mortgage, and who usually applies
a substantial cash payment to his purchase is the best type of risk. Our own
experience is just as conclusive."8

This last observation points to a situation which is the very op-
posite of the fairly general belief regarding Negro standards of
living. Their scale of living, far from being uniformly lower than
the white, is, ironically enough, as high or higher, without the
means of supporting it. This is observed by the Negro banker
who remarked:

"For ourselves as Negroes, it is indeed unfortunate that we live in a
country of so much progress. Our wants almost always exceed our income,
and it is difficult to restrict the desire to buy far beyond our means to repay.
In home ownership, the average Negro is likely to attempt the purchase of
a piece of realty far beyond his ability to pay without at the same time
restricting his purchases of luxuries, principally automobiles, which he sees
on all hands." 7

The problem of financing is further defined by J. C. Napier,
Cashier of the Citizens Savings Bank of Nashville, Tennessee :

"As to the securing of mortgages, I think that Negroes applying for loans
or first mortgages on their property in this community are generally ac-
commodated without reference to their race or color, provided their applica-

8 From a memorandum prepared by L. D. Milton, Vice President and
Cashier of the Citizens Trust Company, Atlanta, Georgia.
T Ibid.

96 NEGRO HOUSING

tion for such a loan is based upon a reasonable valuation of their property.
The general rule is for the financier to grant such a loan or fix the mort-
gage, based upon a 50 per cent valuation of the property of the borrower.

"The practice in this community seems to be contrary to granting or en-
couraging second mortgages. The belief, however, is prevalent that there
is a rule among the real estate dealers in this community to discourage or
prohibit the purchase of property by colored people in white neighbor-
hoods.

There are several methods of purchase available for Negro
buyers. Three of the chief methods are through straight mort-
gages, through building and loan associations, and by the contract
or "pay like rent" plan. Negroes do some buying for cash out-
right, but that method is and must continue to be rare in cities
where property values are high. Investigators found that the
placing of first mortgage loans on city property is not particularly
difficult, especially when there is available a surplus of loan funds,
but Negroes often pay more than the normal rate of interest, be-
cause of the conditions mentioned above. Although conditions
have improved as prejudice diminished before business considera-
tions, Negroes still have to pay more for loans than do white
buyers. The second mortgage money comes so dear because of
the lack of organization in that field, Miss Headley thinks, rather
than because of prejudice, and the high rates (12 to 20 per cent
including various extra charges) also affect white buyers of
"cheap" property.

Negro buyers fare better in communities where building and
loan associations are prominent in the real estate field. Many
communities have thriving Negro associations (Philadelphia had
thirty-six in 1925), and white associations often welcome Negro
clients. Building and loan -associations are carefully regulated by
law in most states and offer protection to the lender and borrower
alike. A white company in Lexington, Kentucky, has had Negro
clients almost since its inception and in twenty years had never
lost a dollar.

Contract buying involves a small initial payment and small
monthly payments "like rent." Its defect is that it allows ex-
ploitation and that special clauses may be inserted which make it
easy to claim a default whereby the buyer loses all that has been
paid in. The printed forms of contract to sell that are used are

'From a memorandum prepared by J. C. Napier, Cashier of the Citizens
Savings Bank and Trust Company, Nashville, Tennessee.

FINANCING OF NEGRO HOME BUYING 97

devised to protect the vendor ; there is no record of purchase ; and
additional mortgages may be put on by the vendor after pay-
ments have started.

"However, protection is necessary for the vendor, since the cash payment
is low and an equity is earned only after thirty to forty monthly pay-
ments. . . .

"Selling under contract-lease is highly speculative, and is carried on
through active advertising and soliciting campaigns in which glowing
promises are made. Buyers are tempted to undertake a burden of payments
extending over from ten to fifteen years, with constant danger of loss
through violation of clauses in the lease contract, or through default."9

In this matter of buying, virtually the same situation exists as
in the case of rents. They pay more. The present systems, more-
over, permit exploitation. Charles S. Duke of Chicago states:

"Recent investigations in Chicago disclose the fact that banks, white and
black, charge a commission of from 6 to 15 per cent on colored loans and
7 per cent interest. Whites secure first mortgages for 3 to 6 per cent com-
mission and 2 to 6 per cent interest. Negroes pay from 15 per cent to 35
per cent commission and 6 per cent interest. Mortgage houses find it
exceedingly difficult to sell mortgage paper upon Negro property, and insti-
tutions that handle such paper are, at the present time, overstocked. Even
Negro investors refuse to purchase mortgage paper upon residences occupied
by members of their own race. In fact, colored investors, in many instances,
have manifested about as much narrowness in this regard as white
investors." 10

The need of a central appraisal bureau has been felt for com-
munities in which small- wage earners are forced 'into competitive
buying as a means of promoting home ownership. This empha-
sizes all the more the plight of the prospective Negro buyer. For
the white buyer is most likely to have larger funds, but what is
still more important, an unlimited field from which to make a
selection of a home. This fact tends to place a limitation of a sort
upon prices. The narrowly restricted range of Negro residence
areas permits extravagant and not infrequently disastrously exces-
sive prices. He must choose between a good location excessively
priced, and a reasonable price in a section where no one desires
to reside.

Impersonal and racial factors in the situation are not all. The

9 Headley, Madge, "Housing," (Woofter, T. J. Jr. and Associates, Negro
Problems in Cities, Garden City, N. Y., Doubleday, Doran and Company,
Inc., 1928), p. 149.

10 From a memorandum prepared by Charles S. Duke, Architectural and
Structural Engineer, 184 West Washington Street, Chicago, Illinois.

98 NEGRO HOUSING

Negro home purchaser, coming to the market, especially in the
cities of the North, is unacquainted with actual risks of buying.
As John E. Nail points out, he is "misdirected in his investment
by those who are incompetent to advise and direct. He buys on
short margin, and in times of pressure his source of employment
being uncertain, he faces criticism and the ultimate loss of his
home and investment."

In some southern cities it has been possible, through friendly
or dependent relations with white families, to get their aid in
securing easier terms on moderate homes, and, too, there has been
some help from the small Negro businesses which have been, as a
matter of fact, established in protest against the difficulty of get-
ting loans on moderate terms from white banks. Particular in-
quiries were made on this point in several southern cities. An
example of an illuminating sort is in the following account which
concerns Houston, Texas:

"As to buying of homes, they usually buy in certain additions; Forest
Homes in the Third ward and Pine Crest in the Fifth ward are some of the
better additions. The price of the homes in these additions ranges from $2,600
to $4,000, and averages around $3,100 or $3,200. The number of rooms ranges
from 4 to 6. Most of them are five-room houses. They pay $200 to $250
down and the rest in monthly instalments. The monthly payments average
around $30. They are supposed to pay 10 per cent down, but we very
seldom get it. None of the real estate agents stick to that. They take a
small down payment and then raise the monthly payments to take care of it.
They charge a high interest, and the client doesn't usually understand that
that is to be added. I have a client now who was buying a house and he
really paid 20 per cent interest on his money. The interest payments were
running to 14 and 15 per cent then and that was on the face of the note
when they had already deducted 5 per cent when they made the note and
had not given him the money until six months later ; so, in addition to all
of this interest, he paid it for six months when he did not have use of the
money. We do not have any building and loan associations at all catering
to colored. The Houston Building and Loan Company and the National
Bond and Mortgage companies are the only ones who did lend to colored,
and they do not do it any more. . . .

"There is another class of people buying out six or eight miles from
town. There is an acreage division out there which they sell in 1-acre tracts,
and a good many people have gone out there. Then we have Independence
Heights and Sunnyside. The lots out there range from $220 to $500 each.
They are not additions in the true sense of the word, for there has been no
improvement made, and the people who buy do so hoping to go out there
and live, but they have no means to get out there, and no way to get into
town to their work if they move out. The type of people who buy have

FINANCING OF NEGRO HOME BUYING 99

their work in town and do not make enough to own and run a car, but they
hear the cheap prices quoted and jump at it. The Wright Land Company
started the Acreage addition and Embry and Gillette the Forest Homes.
I think Burke started the Pine Crest addition. These outer additions have
no sewerage; Independence Heights has little sewerage, and what it has is
not at all adequate. Sunnyside and Acreage have no gas or water, except
wells. It is just land out in the country. Until recently there were no
streets out there. They are very slow about paving colored streets all over
the city."11

*****

"In the west end it is hard to get finances for either white or colored,
but in this section, where better classes live, there is no trouble in getting
finance at all. . . . Financing is not so difficult in the industrial suburb
where Negroes work. It is a regular labor town, and if you have an occu-
pation they don't pay so much attention to your color. If you can do the
job, you get it. All of the industries employ colored and pay good prices.
There are more Negroes employed here as mail carriers than in all of Texas
combined. There are many professional men. We have 73,000 Negroes in
the Metropolitan district of Houston, and the only city park for colored is
in the third ward. There are 63,000 in the city proper. We have no
difficulty in financing houses in the third ward on about the same terms as
are available for whites. We are surrounded by whites and they have to
pass through to get to town and to their subdivisions ; therefore the values
are most lasting and the sections better kept up. One building and loan as-
sociation was very active in taking Negro loans; it represented northern
capital. It is called the San Jacinto Trust Company. Its brokerage charges
were usually 5 per cent, and they allowed the terms of payment to be made
according to the type of home. You could make monthly payments or a term
loan, but most of them used the monthly payment plan. That is usually
at the rate of $1.25 per month per $100. On a $2,000 loan that would be $25
per month, including interest charges. Some arrange it at 1 per cent on
ordinary loans. They have a system of 'On or before' in which you can
pay on or before a certain date with a stated amount of interest. There
are not very many elaborate homes in the ward, but we have modern equip-
ment and moderate homes. The average price is about $3,500.

"Several building companies are building for colored as little as $100 down
and $35 per month, which is about the same amount they would have to
pay for rent.

"There's an iron-clad rule among building and mortgage companies not to
lend any money on unimproved streets; they must be shelled, gravelled, or
permanently paved — a good thing for colored people, for they want to sell
badly enough and they will work for the street improvement. The main
problem here is an economic one. If a man is earning $200 a month he can
own and live in a pretty nice place, and there are hundreds of people here
making that much and lots making much more." ia

11 Cited by Carter Wesley, Attorney and Real Estate Agent, in interview.

12 Cited by Mr. Oscar Pope, Real Estate Agent, 2618 Holman Street,
Houston, Texas, in interview.

100 NEGRO HOUSING

In New Orleans the financing of Negro property has been very
largely in the hands of a few persons who specialize in Negro
homes. They place credit terms within their reach and get, in
return, a good profit from the sale.

"The usual method of buying is to get a homestead to finance the project,
making a mortgage, down payment, and a note for 30, 60 and 90 days.
These they can take up and extend with interest as they fall due. Unless
you are going to own a number of houses there is really no advantage in
owning a home here; taxes are so high, and, if you are buying, it is the
heavy taxes plus the payments that are a hardship. If you are buying a
$4,000 home the payments will run around $40 per month, and the taxes will
be about $20. Then there are water taxes and so forth, so there is no great
incentive for home ownership."18

* * * * *

"The usual charge in home buying is 20 per cent down payment and the
rest in installments. If the house costs $3,000 you would pay 20 per cent
down and $30 per month. There is a Jewish builder who does a lot of
building for Negroes. The client pays for the labor done in building and
he furnishes the material, builds the home, and then turns it over to a home-
stead who buys the material from him, and the buyers pay the homestead.
He has financed some very good homes in this way. This means that one
must have his home built for him ; that is, pay for the labor and you usually
have to have your lot. The building and loan agencies usually work the
same way. They don't seem to have any trouble getting credit." "

*****

"Most of the homes are bought through the homestead plan by poor
colored and whites. You buy the lot, they build and supervise the building
and lend you money and let you pay it back on a monthly basis like rent,
with interest of 7j4 to 8^2 per cent. There are some lumber companies that
will furnish you lumber and take your note, but 90 per cent of the poor buy
from the homesteads. I presume that the colored have about the same rates
as the whites. . . ." M

When homes are bought through the homestead plan the pros-
pective home owner buys the lot and the builder loans money for
the building and supervises the construction, allowing the client
to pay back the amount like rent, over a long period. One such
builder explained to an investigator that there must be taken into
account, in the cost, a certain "moral risk." "It is thought," he
added, "that the Negro will pay today and won't pay tomorrow;

13 Cited by the Reverend N. A. Holmes, 2307 Bienville Street, New Or-
leans, in interview.

"Cited by Mrs. W. O. Sazon, Standard Life Insurance Company, New
Orleans, in interview.

15 Cited by Dr. J. A. Hardin, 1925 N. Rocheblave Street, New Orleans, in
interview.

FINANCING OF NEGRO HOME BUYING 101

he will move overnight or something, but the Negro is not a bit
worse than the poor whites of the same economic class."

In Louisville, Kentucky, the most common arrangement is a
down payment of 10 to 20 per cent and monthly payments averag-
ing about 1 per cent of the value of the property. Many of the
homes have first and second mortgages. Consequently, when the
depression was felt hardest the homes were easily lost.

There is a Negro concern, the Standard Realty Company, which
has assisted Negroes in home buying in this city. Its purpose is
to encourage Negroes to save and to make loans on homes. They
pay 6 per cent on deposits. The regular rates of building and
loan associations are charged, and they advance only 50 to 65 per
cent of the total cost. Loans are limited to $5,000.

Another successful Negro building and loan society is in Vir-
ginia, the People's Building and Loan Association Among
Negroes, organized in 1889. It is one of the largest such con-
cerns, with assets equal to the assets of all Negro building and
loan associations in Virginia, and fourth in rank of all such asso-
ciations, white and Negro.16

The position of Negroes in relation to the. means of financing
home owning is yet unfortunate. In this situation there have been
several suggestions with reasonable intent, aimed at striking a
balance between Negro needs and resources. Mr. John E. Nail,
of New York, who as a real estate dealer and one interested in the
larger welfare of the Negro population, calls attention to one
potential resource which has not yet been adequately tested :

"Savings banks throughout the country carry large Negro deposits. They
are not inclined to give Negroes the same mortgage accommodation that
they give other racial groups.

"In the mass Negro population in America there is a great reservoir of
capital that is not active in their interest. The Negro has not had the oppor-
tunity to learn the value of investments. His mass reservoir of capital should
be harnessed and utilized for home financing. It is impossible for the Negro
to operate financing institutions without contact and interracial cooperation.

"Title companies in the City of New York are engaged in the mortgage
lending business. They make a $10,000 loan based on a certain appraisement
by an accredited appraiser, lending 60 or 65 per cent of the appraised value
of the property. The $10,000 loan is divided into certificates of $10, $100,
$500 and $1,000 units and these mortgage certificates, as they are called, are
sold to the general public with the company's guarantee for the payment of
principal and interest.

18 Davis, Don A., "Using the Building and Loan Associations," Southern
Workman, November, 1927, Vol. 56, pp. 493-496.

102 NEGRO HOUSING

"While I am one person who does not feel as white America does that it
is possible for Negroes to finance and operate the things they require as a
racial group without contact, I do believe, if such a reservoir of capital
could be harnessed and successfully operated, it could prove to America
that it is possible for them to harness and operate this capital successfully
as a racial group. There would be in a short time, competing entities
from other racial groups who would seek investments in the fields in which
these were being made. I see no other hope for reasonable accommodation
in home financing for Negroes except, perhaps, through the medium of
some well intentioned or philanthropically inclined group of people of large
material substance, who would draw together capital for this purpose.

"The Housing Conference should endorse the President's Home Loan
Bank plan. The Negro should be given representation on the commission.
A population of twelve million has interest and purchasing power that
require proper appraisement, protection and development."

Dr. L. F. Burbridge, President of the Louisiana Industrial Life
Insurance Company, New Orleans, Louisiana, suggests that it
would be feasible in the light of consideration of a system of Fed-
eral Home Loan Banks, to admit such of the Negro Insurance
Companies as have sufficient assets and a substantial rating to the
privilege of borrowing from this bank on the same basis as the
Building and Loan Associations. Many of these Insurance Com-
panies, which are members of the National Negro Insurance Asso-
ciation, are, he feels, in position to provide acceptable security for
such loans, and this arrangement, intended for relief of this type,
would materially aid in the financing of Negro homes.

Negroes as Credit Risks

The factors which make Negroes a class risk are based upon
the logic of their unfavorable circumstances. When, family for
family, their record is studied, however, it does not appear to be
as dismal as these circumstances should warrant. Miss Madge
Headley visited a large group of bankers and brokerage real estate
dealers and builders in Chicago in 1917, and again in 1928, when
Negroes first began to buy and as they reached the normal termi-
nation of the extended period of payments. Of their reactions,
she had this to say:

"Negroes are standing this test of borrowing for home buying, and are
steadily overcoming the prejudice against lending money to them, though
this is still one of the greatest obstacles to home owning. Their own financial
institutions are commencing to influence loan money, but the difficulties in
securing this type of small loans are still great.

"Negroes are also standing the test of payments running over a period

FINANCING OF NEGRO HOME BUYING 103

of ten or twelve years, and have belied their general reputation for hand-
to-mouth living. In every city studied, white and colored bankers, brokers,
real estate dealers and builders stated that families buying a home rarely
default, except because of some disaster, or very poor judgment in buying.
One dealer who had sold 700 houses in five years had had only three fore-
closures, and another who had sold 900 houses had had none. There is, how-
ever, a decided tendency to get behind in payments, which makes it necessary
for those who collect to be both patient and persistent in keeping them
regular." 1T

One general study of the Negro as a credit risk has been made
by Professor Paul K. Edwards, of the Department of Economics
of Fisk University.18 The results of his study, which covered
some seventeen cities of the South and store credit as well as real
estate loans, were as follows :

''Upon several occasions in the conduct of this study prominent white indi-
viduals have evidenced surprise that there is such a thing as Negro credit.
As a matter of fact there are many excellent credit risks among Negroes in
the urban South. The small numbers of accounts on the books of the better
stores are invariably good risks. An analysis of Negro credit ratings in
the Blue Book published annually by the Birmingham Merchants' Credit
Association shows that of 114 ratings for Negro railroad laborers, 47.3 per
cent were good or fair; that 54 per cent of 170 credit ratings for Negro
employees of an important iron and coal company were either good or fair.
A study of sections of the files of the Credit Service Exchange in Atlanta
found that of 267 credit ratings for Negro common laborers, 51.3 per cent
were prompt pay, and 82 per cent were either prompt or fair pay; that of
165 credit ratings for Negro skilled laborers, 50.9 per cent were prompt pay,
and 85 per cent were prompt or fair pay. Finally, an analysis made of
the credit standing of 500 Negroes regarding whom information was re-
quested of the Nashville Retail Credit Bureau during several days' time by
all kinds of enterprises is of interest here. Of 413 Negroes from common
and semi-skilled labor families, 46.1 per cent were rated either fair or good
risks by the Bureau; of 87 Negroes from skilled labor families, 49.3 per
cent were rated either fair or good credit risks ; of 100 Negroes from busi-
ness and professional families 57 per cent were either good or fair.

"Those enterprisers interviewed in the conduct of this study who deal
largely with the laboring classes of whites and Negroes reported them, in
the great majority of cases, about on a par as credit risks. Real estate
dealers stated almost universally that from their experience the Negro labor
tenant is at least as good a risk as the white laborer. Several industrial
banks and loan companies dealing with large numbers of labor families

17 Headley, Madge, "Housing," (Woofter, T. J. Jr. and Associates, Negro
Problems in Cities, Garden City, N. Y., Doubleday, Doran and Company,
Inc., 1928), p. 143.

18 Edwards, Paul K., The Southern Urban Negro as a Consumer, New
York, Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1932, pp. 116-119.

104 NEGRO HOUSING

have found that Negro labor is as good a risk as white labor. The pro-
prietors and managers of 'instalment credit' clothing houses interviewed
have in a majority of cases discovered no appreciable difference between
whites and Negroes as credit risks — or perhaps we should say collection
risks — that both are bad. The business of the 'instalment credit' house is
with fairly comparable groups of Negroes and whites, although even here
Negroes from common and semi-skilled labor families are almost sure to
make up a larger proportion of the Negro patronage than do whites of this
occupation group of the total white patronage. From certain angles they
find the Negro an easier subject from which to collect; from others a more
difficult one. To threaten him with the law has a more immediate in-
fluence. Realizing his helplessness at the hands of the law the Negro usually
will not fight back, while the white man will. . . .

"Because of the widely differing proportions of the Negro and white
population in each occupation classification, in the South's large cities, it is
exceedingly unfair to compare the two races as a whole as credit risks.
Equitable comparisons can be made only between occupation classes. For
example, a reasonable comparison would be between 75 per cent of the
Negro group and the 25 per cent of the white group in common and semi-
skilled labor families. Studies of the comparative percentages of the Negro
and white credit customers of the better stores in each occupation class,
however, show how exceedingly difficult, if not impossible it is, to make
such comparisons. There are very few white common and semi-skilled
labor accounts on the books of this class of store ; there are more accounts
with Negro families of this occupation classification than any other. More-
over, because of the small percentage of Negro laborers employed at skilled
work there are very few Negro skilled labor accounts in the credit records.
In Nashville in 1920 only 9.1 per cent of the male and female Negroes gain-
fully occupied were employed as skilled labor ; 26.6 per cent of the male and
female whites were in this occupation class. Unless comparisons of the
labor families of the two races as credit risks are planned and executed
with extreme care, therefore, they are almost sure to be largely between
Negro common and semi-skilled laborers on the one hand and white skilled
laborers on the other."

A principal difficulty for them seems to be that those dealers
who could provide good homes at a reasonable figure consider the
per capita wealth of the group, as a class, too small to insure
reasonable profits. The homes required are small ; the terms must
be easy and extended over a long period. To make it a profitable
investment there must be increased charges, and these are in part
counterbalanced by the cost of collection. As a result there is
usually little new construction, and buying is limited to old
dwellings which no one else wants. There is, it would seem, no
more clear demand for a substitute for the present conditions of
private building than on the matter of homes for this class of the
population.

CHAPTER VI

HOUSING PROJECTS FOR NEGROES

One of the first experiments in model housing for Negroes was
that conducted by the Cincinnati Model Homes Company, begun
in 1912. Apartments were provided for about 300 Negro fami-
lies. Although it began as a risk, it was found that results, both
social and financial, exceeded estimates. This venture was inaugu-
rated by Jacob G. Schmidlapp. The cost was $250 per room.
Some of the houses were sold on the rental plan, with $100 for
initial payment and a weekly payment of $3.10 for ten years. At
the end of ten years the purchaser got the deed to the house sub-
ject to a mortgage of $600 at 5 per cent or $30 a year to be paid
off at his convenience. The average earning of the Negroes was
$16 a week; that of the whites from 10 to 20 per cent more. Both
paid, on an average, about one-fifth of their weekly earnings in
rent. The small group proved a success, and the places were
extended for Negroes and whites. After fourteen years the ex-
periment has yielded results which may be profitable to study. In
the matter of vacancies and default of payment, between 1924 and
1928, with approximately equal numbers, the losses from default
were $504.62 for Negroes and $853.01 for whites. In the Wash-
ington Terrace group with 600 Negroes, there were 39 arrests
over a fourteen-year period, or one arrest for every 215 individuals
per year. The rate for the City of Cincinnati in 1923 was one for
every fifteen whites and one for every seven and a half Negroes.
The mortality was fifteen per thousand as compared with twenty-
five per thousand for the entire city. As a corporation, the 5 per
cent dividends to stockholders have always been paid, the 2 per
cent depreciation (now amounting to $180,000) laid aside, and
$90,000 accumulated in surplus.

The Michigan Boulevard Garden Apartments sought to test
the practicability of investments in Negro housing. Before any
step was taken by Mr. Rosenwald, a survey was conducted with
a view to determining the actual needs of the Negro population.
It appeared that three-, four- and five-room apartments were in
greatest demand. Accordingly in 1929 the Michigan Boulevard
Garden Apartments were thus built and occupied an entire city

105

106 NEGRO HOUSING

block on the south side of Chicago, with accommodation for 417
families. It is five stories in height and covers less than 40 per
cent of the 6 acres of land involved. The apartments are modern
in every respect, all apartments being centrally heated from a cen-
tral oil-burning heating system, furnished with electric refrigera-
tors and combination tub and shower baths. In the center of the
block there is a large central garden covering 3 acres of land
in which there are planted trees and shrubs. There is a play-
ground for the smaller children in the garden and a sun-room on
the roof. The building is fireproof and involves an expenditure of
$2,700,000.

The rents, as might be expected on the basis of the substantial
necessities and comforts provided, are somewhat high. The three-
room apartments, which consist of living-room, kitchen, bedroom,
and bath, average from $17 to $18 per room; the four-room apart-
ments, from $14.50 to $18 per room; and five-room apartments,
from $13 to $16 per room. After the first six months of opera-
tion, 98 per cent of the apartments had been taken. The building
was netting 6 per cent on the capital investment, and there had
been loss by default of only about one-eighth of one per cent. After
a year of operation, Mr. Rosenwald expressed his satisfaction
with the success of the venture.

The Model Homes Company has attempted during the last
eighteen months to construct a series of buildings designed to
house about three hundred and fifty additional Negro families.
Ten acres of ground were purchased for the site of the new build-
ings. Although the land was adjacent to a Negro community, the
white people in that vicinity objected to the extension of the
Negro area. Blue prints for this project had been drawn, so the
Model Homes Company, for the past year and a half, has been
looking, without success, for a new location. It is estimated that
this project will cost a million and a half dollars. Four-room
apartments were designed to rent for $30 per month. "Racial
attitudes and implications" have prevented the carrying out of this
project.1

According to the Better Housing League of Cincinnati, the
housing agencies are interested in encouraging and controlling
the development of carefully selected subdivisions for the Negro.

1 Correspondence with Negro Civic Welfare Association, Cincinnati, Ohio.

•i

A kitchen in a modern apartment house for Negroes.

HOUSING PROJECTS FOR NEGROES 107

"In the past, there have been some subdivisions opened up by unscrupulous
real estate men who have taken advantage of Negroes so that many of them
have lost their investments. There are, as you know, many different ideas
on this subject, and up to this time the people interested in the projects
have not entirely agreed upon a way to work it out. However, we hope
that in a few years it may be possible to plan such a project."

The two most notable ventures in model housing for Negroes
are the Paul Laurence Dunbar Apartments in New York City
sponsored by Mr. John D. Rockefeller, designed to be sold,
and the Michigan Boulevard Garden Apartments in Chicago
sponsored by Mr. Julius Rosenwald, built to be rented. For the
Dunbar Apartments, the building and land involved an outlay of
$3,330,000, on which a moderate interest of 5 per cent is ex-
pected. Tenants only can be stockholders and stockholders only
can be tenants. They subscribe to the amount of stock represented
by the cost of the apartment which they select. The down pay-
ment called for $50 per room. A three-year lease is given, with
the privilege of renewing each year thereafter. The tenants pay
an average of $14.50 per room per month, of which 54 per cent
is principal and interest and 46 per cent upkeep, taxes, insurance
and other things. In twenty-two years the tenants will have paid
the principal. There are 511 apartments, many social features
including nurseries and playgrounds, an employment service, polic-
ing and meticulous inspections.2 More, it is a community.

The type and cost of the venture made it evident that only
Negroes of more than average means could take possession. The
largest single group of occupants is given as clerks with 100. The
median monthly earning was $148.86.

The incentive supplied by the success of the Paul Laurence
Dunbar development in New York and the Julius Rosenwald de-
velopment in Chicago has led to a movement in Detroit for the
establishment of a similar project there. This group, it is said,
has the advice and counsel of the Detroit City Planning Commis-
sion but the plan is now being held in abeyance because of the
present economic situation.

In Newark, New Jersey, the Prudential Life Insurance Com-
pany has planned a development of model apartments for Negroes
in the Third Ward. The project became involved in litigation as
to the right of the city to purchase and maintain as public open

2 Data prepared by Roscoe C. Bruce, Resident Manager.

108 NEGRO HOUSING

space some of the unbuilt-upon land in connection with the project.
Its right to do so has been upheld by the highest court of New
Jersey.3

In many small cities housing projects have been discussed by
interracial committees and other groups of leading citizens, but
nothing definite has resulted. In Wilmington, Delaware, where
the housing problems of Negroes have been most outstanding
since the war, the Citizens Housing Corporation has been trying
to secure modern homes for Negroes and do away with many
shacks that have been rented to the group. It is said that the
group is making rather slow progress.

In Little Rock, Arkansas, a new development called Booker
Terrace has been developed since 1925. The changes that have
taken place since the migration indicate that, except for a few
exclusive white suburban neighborhoods, for the most part all
types of real estate are being opened to Negroes. In most neigh-
borhoods both colored and white people reside, sometimes on op-
posite sides of the streets, sometimes side by side. One real
estate operator suggests that "the depression has forced the lower-
ing of real estate and the opening up of desirable property to
prospective Negro landowners." Servant quarters are disappear-
ing, though there have been no apartment houses built. There is
an increasing tendency toward home ownership among Negroes.
In many cases people took on the responsibility of home owner-
ship without adequate incomes, with the result that there have
been many losses of homes partially paid for during the past two
or three years.

The most outstanding change is recorded in Philadelphia, where
the Negro population has gained in increasing numbers in nine
additional wards since the time of the Woof ter study. There have
been a few new homes constructed in some sections. Meanwhile,
the old neighborhoods have continued to deteriorate, and families
desiring better living conditions have been forced to seek them in
new areas slowly coming into the hands of Negro tenants. There
have been but few changes in North and South Philadelphia,
while West Philadelphia and Germantown have been more pro-
gressive in that there have been several apartment houses and
rows of homes built recently for colored people. According to

8 Simon v. O'Toole, 155 Atl 449; N. J. Advance Reports and Weekly
Law Review, Vol, 10, No. 10, March 5, 1932, p. 124.

HOUSING PROJECTS FOR NEGROES 109

the Armstrong Association of Philadelphia, the following projects
have been developed in Philadelphia since 1928:

"In Germantown, the Montana Gardens Apartments are most comfortable
with modern heating and refrigeration systems. There are 43 apartments
of the two- and three-room types. They rent for $8 and $11 per week.

"The Booker T. Washington Apartments are located in West Philadelphia
at 761 N. 47th Street. There are 268 rooms in the three units of the build-
ing. The apartments consist of from one to four rooms and their rental
varies from $25 to $52.

"230 E. Sharpnack Street: 8 modern apartments. Heating, refrigeration
systems, Murphy beds. Rentals $35 to $40 per month."

Other accommodations built for Negro renters are located as
follows :

"A complete modern block formed by 47th, Olive, 48th and Aspen Streets.
The homes are of the six-room type, with kitchen and bath ; laundry equip-
ment in the basement. Rentals average $40 per month.

"Eighteen houses on one side of the 4800 block of Brown Street with
four more of the same construction extending around the corner on 49th
Street. Each with 8 modern rooms and renting for $45 to $50 per month.

"Six homes in the 300 block E. Upsal Street, Germantown; 7 modern
rooms and garage that rent for $45 per month."

However, there are a number of problems attending these develop-
ments.

The Octavia Hill Association in Philadelphia has been one of
the agencies very definitely interested in the problem of Negro
housing. One investigator reports :

"It seems, in direct contrast to the high purpose that prompted its origin,
the Octavia Hill Association had been forced to subordinate its social better-
ment motive, more or less, to the necessity of making the venture continue
to pay dividends, and thereby subsist during these times when much stronger
professional real estate companies were being forced to the wall."

Social workers, health authorities, probation officers and the like
all believe that the project has been of aid in improving the lives
of the families occupying the dwellings improved by the Associa-
tion. However, the project has been far from ideal as a housing
experiment when it is considered that :

"The ideal would necessitate the destruction of entire blocks in certain
sections of old Philadelphia, with sanitary modern dwellings constructed in
their place; a wholesale renovating of most of the homes with up-to-date
approved conveniences ; some method of relieving overcrowding, especially
when this is occasioned by families being forced to take lodgers into the
home to meet exorbitant rents. The Association had not sufficient resources

110 NEGRO HOUSING

for such extensive improvements nor were they able to confine their activi-
ties to a single area where intensive planning would affect an entire neigh-
borhood. What they have been able to do is to take over and improve
exceptional cases of dilapidated dwellings throughout poor areas of the city
and afterwards play the part of a good landlord. Care has been exercised in
each case in the selection of tenants so as to offer the homes only to those
families which showed most promise of social and economic advancement
in a healthy, clean environment — families that without such an opportunity
would probably never be able to rise above their old environs. There have
been approximately 200 such dwellings owned or managed by the Octavia
Hill Association, that are occupied by Negro families in various parts of
the city." *

In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where Negroes because of their
low economic status tend to concentrate in the poorest districts
even as in other cities, the Pittsburgh Housing Association is at-
tempting to raise the standards of the poorest housing permitted
in the city, thereby improving housing conditions for Negroes.
Although there is a surplus of dwellings in the lowest rental class,
the Association has been emphasizing the desirability of demolish-
ing the worst houses to prevent their being occupied. During the
first six months of 1931, more houses were demolished than dur-
ing any other twelve-month period. Meanwhile, Negroes have
been moving into better districts beyond the boundaries of their
former areas of occupancy. The result has been a change in the
center of Negro population. The Pittsburgh Urban League has
been stimulating housing improvement among the Negroes with
the cooperation of the Pittsburgh Housing Association. In the
past five years there have been only two small housing projects:
One, a seven- family apartment house ; the other, eleven unattached
single-family houses, all modern conveniences, which were first
offered for sale at $7,500 each but later rented at $65 per month.
Our informant adds this interesting comment :

"They have remained occupied and have continued to bring in the amount
of rental which they demanded a year or two ago, in spite of the depression,
and in spite of the present surplus of houses in the Negro neighborhood."

There has been some industrial housing for Negroes. Leifur
Magnusson's rather comprehensive survey of industrial housing
developments, published as a Bulletin of the United States Bu-
reau of Labor Statistics, 1920, found a certain amount of segre-
gation in company towns. The most notable company develop-

*Data Supplied to Group on Social and Economic Factors, T. Arnold
Hill, Chairman.

HOUSING PROJECTS FOR NEGROES 111

ments are at Alcoa, Tennessee; Baden, North Carolina; The
Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company, and the American
Cast Iron Pipe Company on the outskirts of Birmingham; the
Reynolds Tobacco Company at Winston- Salem, North Carolina;
and the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company in Ohio. The
experience of the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company was
qualified. The houses were actually built by a subsidiary con-
cern, the Youngstown Land Company. They erected in 1918 and
1919 some 135 concrete, two-, three- and four-room houses to be
rented to Negroes. All had baths, electricity and water. Said
the company:

"From the beginning our experience with them has not been very satis-
factory. While there are always exceptional cases, we have found that good
houses, good surroundings and good wages, which they had for some years,
have had practically no effect on their living standards. While this com-
pany made no effort in social betterment other than the weeding out from
the community of gross offenders, there was constant work along this line
going on in the City of Campbell, where these houses are located. After
about nine years of effort, the lessening desirability of the Negro in in-
dustrial works began to cause many vacant houses, and steps were taken
to convert the colony, block by block, into quarters for white foreign
workers. To the present time, 63 houses have been so taken over, leaving
72 still remaining for Negroes.

"In addition to the above group of 135 houses, this company has had many
Negro tenants in other locations about the Youngstown District, but usually
they did not have so many conveniences such as bathrooms. It seems to
me that they get along as well or better in these older and less convenient
houses where rents are lower and social requirements are less."

The American Rolling Mill Company in Middletown, Ohio, built
200 homes of four and five rooms, semi-modern — toilet, city water,
sinks, electricity and sewers — and sold them to Negroes at prices
ranging from $1,600 to $2,250. In addition to this a school and
community center were built; playgrounds, swimming pools and
ball diamonds provided. "We regard Bon Veue" (the settlement),
the personnel manager said, "as one of the most attractive sub-
divisions for colored people, and there are a lot of mighty fine
folks living there."

The United States Government built the town of Truxton, 5 in
Virginia, near Portsmouth, during the war. It has since been
bought by Negroes.

"The town of Truxton, Norfolk County, Virginia, was located originally

5 Memorandum prepared by Fred D. McCracken, formerly Operating
Manager, Truxton.

112 NEGRO HOUSING

just outside the city limits of Portsmouth, Virginia. This town was con-
structed by the United States Housing Corporation, which was an agency
of the United States Department of Labor, and was known as United States
Housing Project No. 1,500.

"Truxton, Va., was one of the many housing projects constructed by the
Government during the World War to provide suitable housing facilities for
war workers in different sections of the country wherever the manufacture
of munitions or shipbuilding was in progress. Truxton was the only such
project built for colored war workers by the Government and was designed
primarily to take care of the employees at the Portsmouth and Norfolk
Navy Yards.

"The location of the town was ideal for that part of the country, the
town being built on the highest point in Norfolk County.

"Ample transportation facilities into the City of Portsmouth and to the
Navy Yards were provided by street car.

"The officials of the United States Housing Corporation had in mind the
establishment of a model town. They built two hundred and fifty houses of
frame construction, all being of the same material, there being differences,
however, in exterior design. Most of the houses contained five rooms, and
were designed for single families, though of the total number constructed,
twenty-six were designed to accommodate two families. Each house was
equipped with bathroom, running water, sewer connections, standard sinks
and bowls, and electricity.

"The lots of the single houses measured 28 x 100 feet and of the double
houses 40 x 100 feet. Shrubs, plants and flowers were placed about each
house. There were no alleys, the houses being separated from each other
by neat wire fences.

"There was a store block containing four stores, with eight apartments
above. This block housed a drug store, general merchandise store, barber
shop and dry goods store.

"The streets were 50 feet wide, were paved, and were amply lighted.

"There was a large public park, which was beautifully landscaped and
which contained a wide variety of beautiful vines, shrubs and flowers.

"The town contained one of the most modern school buildings to be found
anywhere in the South, with ample grounds and facilities for recreation.

"There was a regular police force comprised of two men, who worked in
twelve-hour shifts. There was also a police reserve unit, composed of resi-
dents of the community.

"There was a volunteer fire brigade, although the Portsmouth Fire De-
partment responded to any call sent in.

"The very highest standards of sanitation and hygiene were maintained
at all times. Garbage was collected daily. The health of the members of
the community was excellent, as the system of sanitation that was established
was rigidly enforced.

"In addition to other facilities for the residents, there was a well-stocked
public library. Community activities were many and varied. There was a
Mothers' Club, athletic organization, and three secret fraternal organiza-
tions, and one of the barracks formerly used by one of the construction gangs
was converted into a church.

HOUSING PROJECTS FOR NEGROES 113

"The rental charge for a five-room cottage was $18 per month.

"From 1919, when the project was completed, until 1920, the operation
and government of the town was under an official known as Operating Man-
ager, appointed by the United States Housing Corporation of the Department
of Labor. This town was considered by the United States Housing Corpora-
tion during the period of its operation as being one of the most successful
housing projects operated by the Government, and was so located that it
was a community by itself, situated on the road from Portsmouth to points
south.

"There was practically no disorder during the entire period of operation.
In fact, not a single arrest was made. This was really remarkable, consider-
ing the fact that some fifteen hundred persons resided in the town. The
Operating Manager heard and settled minor disputes among neighbors or
members of family groups.

"We were able to instil a spirit of race and civic pride among the resi-
dents, who thoroughly comprehended the original aim and desire to make it
a model town from every point of view. To the residents belongs the credit
of making the experiment an unqualified success."

"In 1920, the Government ordered the sale of the property. It was sold
on a basis of 60 per cent of its original value, 5 per cent in cash, and the
balance in deferred payments at the rate of 1 per cent per month. In other
words, a single house sold on an average of $1,800 : $90 down and $18 per
month, including interest.

"All the property was bought by colored people. . . . All public utilities,
including the school, were turned over to the city of Portsmouth. Ports-
mouth extended its corporate limits so as to include the town of Truxton,
the latter becoming a part of the city of Portsmouth.

"The Truxton experiment was considered a success from every angle by
housing experts and government officials, and it is thought that it could be
easily duplicated in practically any state of the Union, especially in the
South, where the housing problem is especially acute among Negroes. . . ."

Some interest in Negro housing has been stimulated by Better
Homes in America. Their purposes, as stated, are to make in-
formation available about high standards in house building, home
furnishing and home life, encourage the building of sound, beau-
tiful, simple family houses, and encourage the reconditioning and
remodeling of old houses, and kindred matters. In June of 1931,
Mrs. Helen Storrow reported that 674 committees were organized
in all parts of the United States during 1930 to arrange for the
participation of Negro citizens in a nation-wide better homes
campaign.

The will of Negroes, is, to a most pronounced degree, for
homes and better homes. But, on the basis of the data herein
set forth, they have been, perhaps, more seriously handicapped
than any other group in America in getting them.

CHAPTER VII
RECOMMENDATIONS

1. In view of the desperate conditions brought out in this study of Negro
and other minority groups, we recommend that a National Housing Com-
mission be appointed by the President whose function shall be to serve as a
research commission, to encourage states to pass adequate housing laws, and
to suggest administrative measures for enforcement of state and municipal
laws.

2. In those states in which there are not adequate housing laws, we recom-
mend that a state commission be appointed to secure adequate legislation
and to investigate conditions with a view to correction through various state
and municipal channels. We further recommend that this commission be
interracial, nonpolitical, and nonpartisan.

3. We recommend that each municipality maintain a permanent commis-
sion whose function it shall be to investigate housing conditions and to pre-
sent for adoption specific ordinances suited to the community housing needs,
and to provide controls for the enforcement of these ordinances. In this
connection we recommend that interracial groups seek the cooperation of
city officials and civic organizations to secure necessary improvements in
Negro sections.

4. We recommend that Negroes follow the trend in urban communities
and move out into subdivisions in which modern homes can be built.

5. In the blighted areas we recommend that the houses which are legally
condemned shall be razed or so closed that habitation cannot continue. We
recommend the abolition of alley dwellings. The building space can be
used profitably for garages and warehouses.

6. For the interstitial areas the recommendations would range all the way
from razing to rehabilitation, razing the deteriorated and condemned build-
ings near the business section and rehabilitation for the better houses farther
removed from the business area. It is further recommended that in this
area new housing projects should be undertaken.

7. In the area of substantial construction we recommend that the following
resources be used to create public opinion in order to establish controls among
the Negroes themselves when municipal or state regulations fall down with
reference to housing : Urban Leagues and other civic agencies, newspapers,
neighborhood associations, business organizations, especially colored insur-
ance companies, women's clubs, churches, Y. M. C. A.'s, and parent-teacher
organizations.

8. Because of the prevalence of influences in Negro neighborhoods which
tend to destroy, we recommend that responsible, established welfare agen-
cies include in their general program the formation of neighborhood clubs,
ward organizations, and other devices to create public opinion for: Better
appearances of the individual home ; better aesthetic taste within the home ;
organization of clean-up and paint-up campaigns; beautification of lawns,
the planting of trees and shrubbery ; cleaner backyards and alleys.

114

RECOMMENDATIONS 115

9. We believe that the rapid development of the converted kitchenette
apartment constitutes a moral and physical hazard of first importance, and
we recommend that an exhaustive study be made to determine its effects
with reference to deterioration of property, congestion, sanitary conditions,
health, and morals.5

10. It is recommended that special consideration be given housing for
urban people with incomes of $1,000 a year and rural dwellers with incomes
as low as $750 a year, and that civic-minded people be induced to establish
adequate financing agencies at reasonable interest for people of low incomes.
None of the large housing investments in America has helped the family
with a total income of $25 a week. Safe and profitable investments can be
made in this field and it will be a boon to rural home ownership. In gen-
eral, housing ventures have looked to people with incomes of $2,000 a year
or more. If it is not feasible to build low-priced apartments as business
investments, we recommend that consideration be given to the intervention
by public funds either through tax relief or through direct subsidy as has
been done by Vienna and other European cities.

11. Further recommendations include the encouragement of building and
loan associations under responsible auspices and the participation of Negroes
in programs for home betterment sponsored by national organizations.

12. We recommend the removal of legislation restrictive of Negro resi-
dence in desirable residence sections of the city where they are able to rent
or purchase.

13. We recommend the development of rural social work projects designed
to encourage the improvement of sanitation, home life, and physical sur-
roundings of rural Negro families.

14. We recommend the establishment of minimum standards of housing
for tenants on plantations.

15. Rural housing projects among Negroes are retarded for the reason
that prospective purchasers are charged higher rates of interest, offered
unfair instalment terms, and have difficulty securing insurance protection.
Information relative to purchasing, improving and modernizing their homes
is seldom available to them. We therefore recommend the organization of
local cooperative associations of Negro home owners and prospective home
owners for the purpose of enabling community groups to bargain collectively
for financing facilities. The group acting and working cooperatively would
be able to secure all information relative to such undertakings, could take
advantage of bargains offered and the inspiration and strength acquired by
working together would stimulate activity and progress in rural home
ownership.

16. We recommend that there be sought the cooperation of all educa-
tional and welfare agencies, interested in rural Negroes, for the purpose of
stimulating practical interest by education and demonstration in housing.

6 See Appendix VII, "The Kitchenette Apartment," p. 258.

116 NEGRO HOUSING

Further Projects for Study on Housing 6

"1. A Comparative Study of the Movement of Negro Population
in Northern and Southern Cities. The material and findings presented in
this paper have been drawn from northern cities where in recent years the
Negroes, rapidly increasing in number, have taken the role of an immigrant
group. Obviously, the factors determining the location and shifting of popu-
lation groups are quite different in the South. For example, Jesse F. Steiner
in an unpublished study of the distribution of Negroes in New Orleans finds
significant correlations of Negro population movement with the varying
number of feet of depression of various areas below the level of the
Mississippi River.

"2. A Comparative Study of Different Types of Negro Communi-
ties Within a City. In a term paper on the distribution of Negro com-
munities in St. Louis, Berenice O'Fallon makes an interesting comparison of
different roles taken by the various neighborhoods in the larger Negro com-
munity corresponding with their position in the five urban zones. Extending
from the central business district (I) into the zone of transition (II) are (a)
the Negro slums along the river frontage frequented by hoboes, dope fiends,
drunkards; (b) a low grade rooming house district with certain streets
given over to prostitution, inhabited by low-paid workers in nearby railroad
yards and factories ; and (c) better furnished rooms where dwell men em-
ployed as porters, waiters, policy vendors, professional card sharks and
women working out in service as cooks, maids, chambermaids in hotels and
laundresses, and where are located such institutions of night life as the
dance hall, the cabaret and the club house. In the workingmen's zone
(III) is located (d) a workingmen's district with low rents and little repair
on dwellings where the men do various kinds of laborious work for a weekly
pay check of twenty to twenty-five dollars, and the women work in laundries
and factories, scrub office buildings and do housework by the day. In the
residential zone (IV) are found (e) a good residential section of fine,
large homes lately acquired by the Negroes from wealthy owners who
have moved into palatial apartment buildings or into exclusive suburban
sections, and (f) a bungalow district in which reside men who are postal
clerks, mail carriers, small business men and highly paid skilled working-
men with weekly incomes of forty-five to fifty-five dollars, and women who
are housewives, stenographers, and elevator and stock girls in department
stores. In the suburban zone (V) there are located (g) near the wealthy
suburban districts several small Negro settlements whose inhabitants are
mainly mulattoes.

"The statement has been made by Robert E. Park that Negro society is
not at all homogeneous as erroneously thought by most outsiders, but has
actually as many, if not more, economic and social gradations as white
society. In his study of the Negro family in Chicago, E. Franklin Frazier

6 Items 1 to 6 suggested by Dr. Ernest W. Burgess, "Residential Segrega-
tion in American Cities," Annals of the American Academy of Political and
Social Science, November, 1928, Vol. 140.

RECOMMENDATIONS 117

is engaged in developing a technique to measure with some degree of pre-
cision these differences in economic and social status implied in this impres-
sionistic analysis, from the standpoint of location, of the social structure
of Negro society in St. Louis.

"3. A Study of Changes in Land Values Incident to Negro Inva-
sion of an Area. The entrance of the Negro into a white community re-
sults in an immediate apparent depreciation in land values. This also results,
but not always so rapidly, from any other racial or immigrant intrusion or
from commercial and industrial encroachment No study has, however, been
made of the long time effect upon land values of Negro settlement. A cursory
examination of the trend in land values from 1912 to 1928 as entered in
Olcott's Land Values Blue Book of Chicago seems to indicate that in time
residential values tend slowly to recover from their losses, but that com-
mercial values, with little or no check, forge rapidly ahead.

"The fact is that Negroes frequently acquire sites in the direction of busi-
ness and industrial growth. A Negro once owned property on Wall Street
in New York. Two Negro churches with locations in and near the Loop
in Chicago were able to realize on the sale of their property enough to
clear their mortgages and to purchase suitable sites further south in dis-
tricts to which their parishioners had migrated. In the case of the Bethel
American Methodist Episcopal Church this was possible only through the
generous assistance of a wealthy white friend who advanced the sums neces-
sary to prevent foreclosure of the mortgage.

"More frequently, however, Negro property owners are not in a position
to take advantage of the future rise in land value. They have not been able
in New York, for example, to profit as have certain institutions which
have moved several times because they were able to hold the property until
they could capitalize on each occasion upon the increase in land values.

"In certain cases where clashes have occurred upon the invasion by the
Negro of a white residential area, a period of quiet follows in which it would
seem that the Negroes have been kept out. But actual study shows that in
many cases the reverse is true. The Negro really had acquired property, and
his progress of penetration continued peacefully until he had obtained pos-
session of the neighborhood. These situations merit further investigation.

"4. Density of Population in Negro Settlements — Density — Height
of Buildings. Woofter in his volume Negro Problems in Cities, shows
that the density per acre is much greater for Negroes than for whites in the
same city. He also indicates that the density in Negro settlements varies
widely. An examination of the census tracts for Chicago showed, however,
that the density of population in certain immigrant settlements, particularly
the Polish, was much higher than in any Negro neighborhood. In general, the
density of population in Negro neighborhoods was practically the same as
that of other neighborhoods in the same urban zone. Further study should
be made in order to determine whether or not in other cities the density
of population is greater or less in Negro than in white neighborhoods in the
same urban zone. In any study of rates of density of population, it is al-
ways desirable to distinguish between neighborhoods by prevailing type of
dwellings and height of buildings as between single homes, two-flat and

118 NEGRO HOUSING

tenement or apartment houses, and one-story, two-story, or many-story
structures.

"5. A Study of Rents in Negro Neighborhoods. All investigations of
rents in Negro areas show that on the average rents are higher for Negroes
than for whites. These studies, however, are generally made in times of a
housing crisis for the Negroes and in periods of Negro migration into
the city. It would be desirable to study rents for the different types of
Negro neighborhoods in the city to determine more accurately the factors
making for higher rent, and, if possible, the conditions under which rents
are stabilized at the level prevailing in white neighborhoods.

"6. A Study of the Proximity of Vice Resorts and Negro Districts.
In many cities, as Chicago, Kansas City, Buffalo, Springfield, Illinois, Fort
Wayne, Indiana, Topeka, Kansas, vice has been located in openly recognized
segregated districts or in concealed resorts within or adjacent to Negro
districts. Presumably the Negro has been forced to seek these areas for
residence because of his difficulty in gaining entrance to better residential
districts. With the abolition of segregated districts, new institutions have
made their appearance in the city like the cabaret and the closed dance hall.
So-called 'black and tan' cabarets and night clubs run openly in New York,
Chicago, Los Angeles. No adequate study of the role and function of these
institutions has as yet been made. They demand further study as one phase
of the interesting drama of race relations in our largest American cities."

7. Negro Rural Housing. A study of physical and social problems of
housing in selected rural communities together with inquiries into the
standard of living and earning capacity of Negro families engaged in agri-
cultural work.

8. Standards of Living of the Various Economic Classes of the
Negro Population.

9. Standards of Living of Negro Families in the North and South.

10. The operation of housing projects for Negroes, with comparison
of such social factors as morbidity, mortality, delinquency, illegitimacy, etc.,
with groups of families in unsupervised housing areas.

11. A study of Negro home ownership, including methods by which
ownership of property is commonly acquired ; the effects of credit ; rela-
tion of income and regularity of employment to risk value and to acquire-
ment of ownership ; value of property owned in relation to occupation, edu-
cation and income.

12. Study of the social and financial effects of Negro residence
upon property value according to location with respect to elements of the
white population in selected communities in the North and South.

13. Further study of Negro residence in areas of transition
in relation to the social factors of delinquency, illegitimacy and social
standards.

APPENDIX I

EXTRACTS FROM STUDIES OF NEGRO
HOUSING— ITS PHYSICAL ASPECTS

I. Urban Surveys
General

". . . It is essential that . . . environmental influences be em-
phasized, (in Negro housing) since they prove to be important
factors in disease, crime and morality. Many people attribute ex-
cessive Negro death-rates from tuberculosis, pneumonia and the
diseases of infants to inborn racial traits, others attribute crimes
of violence and irregularities in family life to peculiar emotional
equipment of people of African descent. Regardless of whether
these traits are influenced to some extent by heredity or not, this
analysis of the city environment indicates that they are also pro-
foundly influenced by the conditions of life in cities ... p. 18.

". . . Urbanization of Negro population signifies far more than
the mere transference of two million people. It involves a pro-
found cultural change and demands multiple readjustments. . .

"The problems of the new environment have proved grave for
the Negroes and for the cities into which they have moved. In a
number of cities they represent a very vexing series of social mal-
adjustments. The difficulties of adapting these country people to
city houses, city schools and city neighborhood organizations are
real. The exploitation of their ignorance of city conditions and of
their position when segregation restricts their choice of residence
or activity is discouraging, even though this exploitation is often
similar to that of white groups of similar economic status. . . pp.
20-21.

"Another great difficulty in the way of Negroes in their strug-
gle for better homes has been a persistence of the attitudes of
slavery. The Emancipation Proclamation did not, with a stroke
of a pen, strike off the fetters of thought which had been worn for
two centuries. During slavery, Negroes lived in cabins in the back
yard. It was but a step from these to cabins in some back alley
or backwash of the city — down in the hollow, or between the rail-
road tracks, where land was almost valueless. At first, white peo-
ple with the slave-holding attitude felt that such places were the

119

120 NEGRO HOUSING

natural habitat of the Negro; and colored people with slave at-
titudes were not accustomed to anything better. In the early days
of freedom no one dreamed of putting municipal improvements
into these neighborhoods . . ." pp. 21-22 x

*****

"Most American whites refuse to live in the same neighborhood
with Negroes. Many whites, when Negroes attempt to enter a
new neighborhood, either start legal action, resort to mob violence,
or move away ... p. 107.

"In the first place, the housing accommodations which the Negro
roomer or renter is compelled to accept are, of necessity, poor.
The buildings which he occupies are in the oldest part of town;
therefore, they are usually unprovided with modern sanitary and
other conveniences. Then the extreme overcrowding of Negro
neighborhoods renders the housing situation doubly difficult. . .

"All Negroes do not live in such squalor. The housing standard
of the well-to-do Negro is equal to that of the well-to-do white
man. But the masses of Negro workers take the broken victuals
of American housing facilities." p. 122.2

*****

"... Throughout the industrial centers of the North the ma-
jority of Negro homes are located in sections where transporta-
tion facilities are inadequate, or in areas where the expansion of
business houses, railroads and factories has rendered the district
undesirable for residential purposes, or else in old sections where
the paving, lighting, street cleaning and sanitary regulations are

neglected . . ." p. 157.3

*****

"There are few cities without Negro sections, and few of these
sections that are not located within a stone's throw of the city's
business district. It is one of the most curious phenomena of city
growth. In Chicago it is the second ward, beginning where the
'Loop' ends ; in Philadelphia it skirts along two blocks from Broad
Street; in Atlanta, Auburn Avenue of business breaks suddenly
into Auburn Avenue of the Negroes and gradually fades into

1Woofter, T. J. Jr. and Associates, Negro Problems in Cities, Garden
City, N. Y., Doubleday, Doran and Company, Inc., 1928.

2 Nearing, Scott, Black America, New York, Vanguard Press, 1929.

3 Kennedy, Louise Venable, The Negro Peasant Turns Cityward, New
York, Columbia University Press, 1930.

STUDIES OF NEGRO HOUSING — ITS PHYSICAL ASPECTS 121

whiteness again; Beale Street of Memphis, famed for its 'Blues'
of 'low' Negro origin, traces a similar course. In Richmond, Vir-
ginia, the Negroes' Leigh and Clay Streets are just two blocks
from Broad Street, the center of business ; in Savannah, the Negro
district begins across the street from the new Union Station, so
placed to indicate the center of transportation activities. Even in
New York City, which has taken a somewhat untypical city growth,
there is Columbus Hill around 58th Street within sight of Fifth
Avenue and Broadway; and the remnants of the migration to
Harlem may still be seen moving in and out of the archaic dwell-
ings not yet destroyed, and not three blocks from the heart of the
theatre district.

"The course of a consistent tendency is marked in these. For
it develops that in each case the Negro residence area is located
on approximately the first residence sites of the city. As the city
grows and the encroachments of business render the original areas
less desirable for residence, the first owners move farther out, to
newer developments. They are followed in turn, in the old dwell-
ings, by successively lower income classes, as owners or renters.
The buildings become older and more difficult to keep in repair:
boarding houses and lodging places appear. Exclusiveness is gone.
Low-income foreign groups may move in. If their economic level
is not improved sufficiently to allow individuals to move out, it
becomes 'Little Italy,' or 'Little Ireland.' Not infrequently the
indiscriminateness of these transitional areas permits the entrance
of houses of prostitution, or the milder iniquity of 'buffet flats,'
and, in the more modern parlance 'bootleg joints.' These are the
areas, generally, that become the Negro centers. For a greater in-
come in rent may be secured from this social group than from the
economic class of whites next in order of succession. Unlike the
native or immigrant white, the elevation of economic status alone
does not make possible movement to a different or newer area.
The property is potentially valuable for business, depending, of
course, upon the capricious direction of the city's growth. Carter
Woodson's compilation of free Negro heads of Negro families in
1830 shows New York City Negroes living on Wall, Nassau, Sulli-
van, Canal and Rector Streets, holdings now of prohibitively high
value. Abyssinia Baptist Church remained in the old Negro cen-
ter on 50th Street until a few years ago before it moved to Harlem.

122 NEGRO HOUSING

Of the homes now occupied in Harlem only a very few have been
built by Negroes. They have been inherited and among these are
rare examples of the architectural stamp of Stanford White. The
Harlem dwellings are more habitable because they are relatively
newer. The measure of general Negro housing in enough cities
to make it a rule, becomes the quality of the property inheritance.
... pp. 199-200.

"Among the first and most dismal of the social problems en-
countered by migrants from the South was that of housing con-
gestion. Negro residence areas expand very slowly, and when
these are hemmed in, as frequently happens, by other social or
natural barriers the result immediately registers in overcrowd-
ing. . ." p. 207.4

Albany, New York

"With the exception of a relatively small number of homes built
by Negro owners for their own use, not one new structure has
been made available for the Negro tenant since 1900. A large
portion of the houses occupied by Negroes are very old brick
buildings and their death, barring accidental destruction, is so
lingering and drawn out over so many years of decline and decay
that they are undesirable from external appearances alone. In some
cases essential repairs were made and the life of the building pro-
longed, while in other cases no repairs have been made and the
buildings remain occupied. The houses do not represent what
the city approves according to its Building Ordinance, but it does
represent what Albany tolerates and offers to the increasing Negro
population group. The Negro population is widely scattered in
Albany, being distributed throughout 17 of the 19 wards of the
city.

"In general there is a low standard of housing for the Negro
population in Albany. The scanty equipment and poor repair of
the average Negro dwelling make the rent paid comparatively
high." 5

4 Johnson, Charles S., The Negro in American Civilisation, New York,
Henry Holt and Company, 1930.

5 Reid, Ira DeA., The Negro Population of Albany, N. Y., New York,
National Urban League, 1928.

STUDIES OF NEGRO HOUSING — ITS PHYSICAL ASPECTS 123

Charleston, West Virginia

"The investigators went into 681 homes, or 85 per cent of all
the homes occupied by Negroes in the city. Two thousand nine
hundred persons reside in these homes of which 2,148 are adults
and 752 are children. Practically all of the houses are of lumber
construction, detached and with ample light and ventilation. The
general sanitary condition is remarkably good when it is remem-
bered that more than 75 per cent of these houses are more than
ten years old. The yards and walls are generally clean and the
plumbing is in good condition. About 75 per cent of the houses
investigated have bathtubs, hot and cold water. There are several
alleys in which many Negroes live, but many of them are paved
and they are kept in good condition by the city government. The
alleys and back streets of Charleston are almost entirely free from
trash and rubbish heaps and garbage is not permitted to accumu-
late and putrefy in the rear of houses. There are only a few
stables in the sections in which many Negroes live and those that
are there are kept in a clean condition. . ." p. 45. 6

Chicago, Illinois

"A selection was made of 274 Negro families living in all sec-
tions of Chicago. . . p. 152.

"For the most part the physical surroundings of the Negro
family, as indicated by these family histories, are poor. . . p. 152.

"On the South Side, where most of the Negro population lives,
the low quality of housing is widespread, although there are some
houses of a better grade which are greatly in demand.

"The ordinary conveniences, considered necessities by the aver-
age white citizen, are often lacking. Bathrooms are often miss-
ing. Gas lighting is common, and electric lighting is a rarity.
Heating is commonly done by wood or coal stoves, and furnaces
are rather exceptional ; when furnaces are present, they are some-
times out of commission. . . p. 152.

"Except where the property is owned by Negroes there is fre-
quent moving. The records obtained of these movements give a
great variety of reasons. A strong desire to improve living con-

6 The Negro in West Virginia, "Housing Conditions" — A Survey of the
Negro Population of Charleston, West Virginia, Report of the Bureau of
Negro Welfare and Statistics, Charleston, West Virginia, 1921-1922.
(T. Edward Hill, Director.)

124 NEGRO HOUSING

ditions appears with sufficient frequency to indicate that it is the
leading motive. Buying a home is one of the ways of escape from
intolerable living conditions, but removal to other houses or flats
is more often tried. . ." p. 154.7

"An almost complete cessation in the building of dwellings in
Chicago extended over the greater part of the period when Negro
migration was heaviest. As the most recent comers into the tene-
ment districts of the city, Negroes and Mexicans have found
shelter in the most used, most outworn and derelict housing which
the city keeps. The old tenement districts have long been ex-
periencing a steady encroachment by industry and commerce. In
whole or in part as residence sections they are destined for ex-
tinction. Already deterioration is general in them, both in their
houses and in their neighborhood conditions. It is unlikely that
anything will be done to make these districts more fit for dwelling
places. Although in many cases it seems hardly conceivable, it
nevertheless is probable that further decline and deterioration are
all that can be predicted with certainty for much of the renting
property in them. . . pp. 7, 9.

"About 8 per cent of the 770 buildings in which the families in-
cluded in this study dwelt occupied the rear of the lots and had
another building in front of them. Almost six out of every ten
buildings (59 per cent) had not more than two floors. Fifty-six
per cent had only one or two dwellings in them. Fully half were
of frame construction though within the fire limits. These are
characteristics of older buildings rather than of recent construc-
tion in the thickly populated sections of a large city. As a city
grows, the one-family frame houses give way to larger multi-
family buildings of brick. Land values increase and the ideal of
having a city of one-family homes fades into impracticability. . ."
p. IS.8

Columbus, Ohio

"Households living in rented dwellings constitute about three-
quarters of the total number studied. In actual numbers, there

7 The Chicago Commission on Race Relations, The Negro in Chicago,
Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1922.

8 Hughes, Elizabeth A., Living Conditions for Small-Wage Earners in
Chicago, Bureau of Social Surveys, Chicago Department of Public Welfare,
1925.

STUDIES OF NEGRO HOUSING — ITS PHYSICAL ASPECTS 125

were 139 renters' households among the 188 homes visited. Forty-
one families lived in their own homes and the remaining eight gave
no report as to tenure.

"It is well known that unsatisfactory housing conditions are as-
sociated with poverty, both as a cause and as an effect. The very
poor man, especially if he has lived only under rural conditions,
does not know how to care for modern equipment when he se-
cures a good house. He justifies the landlord's claim that poor
people have poor ways. On the other hand, the lack of sanitary
facilities is a real reason for dirt and disorder. The housewife
who must carry all water from a distant well or hydrant cannot
be held entirely to blame if the house is not immaculate. Under
such conditions good habits of housekeeping are likely to suffer
degeneration.

"Negro migrants are poor. Their poverty and the barriers of
race restrict them severely in their selection of a home. To this
home they bring their country habits, thus helping to keep hous-
ing standards low ; especially is this true in a district like Cham-
pion Avenue, where many of the lots are almost entirely taken
up with cheap structures built primarily to produce income from
rentals ... pp. 146-147.

"Two types of dwellings prevail in this district. There is the
old, solidly built house which was originally built for the use of
its owner. Some of these houses have been remodeled and
modernized by their present owners; others have been divided
into tenements; still others remain unchanged — substantial, but
not modern. There is also the type of dwelling which had been
built more recently and less substantially, not to house its owner,
but rather to supply him with an income from rents. Dwellings
of this type are usually built at the least possible cost and with
the fewest possible conveniences. Costs of repair on such houses
would be heavy if repairs were made, but it is seldom found
necessary to keep such houses in repair in order to rent them.
Several cases can be pointed out in which the landlord has built
two four- family flats on one lot with a sixty- foot frontage on the
street. One flat is built close to the sidewalk and facing the
street, and the other is built on the rear of the lot, facing the
alley. The prevailing size of these flats is four rooms. Prac-
tically all of them are rental properties, as is shown by the fact

126 NEGRO HOUSING

that of the 84 households living in four-room apartments, only
three were reported as living in their own homes.

"These built-up alleys are often dignified by the term 'court.'
A row of sheds built between the two flats, over the sewer-main,
contains the fuel supply and the toilets. The latter are generally
of the long-hopper type, with a funnel tile connected directly with
the sewer-main, but with no flush arrangement to clear the funnel,
which in many cases becomes clogged, especially in freezing
weather or when used as a garbage receiver. When this happens,
such a 'toilet' becomes in fact a poor kind of vault privy, in viola-
tion of the real intent of the public health laws." pp. 4S-49.9

Dallas, Texas

"The analysis of some 1,245 survey reports on as many houses
has been done with care and illustrates both the physical and
environmental conditions of Negro housing.

A— Desirable 199. . . 15%

B — Good but lacking in some particulars 421 . . .33.8

C— Barely habitable 385. . .31

D— Unfit for habitation . 240. .. 19.2

1,245

"It is hence apparent that a little less than 50 per cent of the
houses presently occupied by Negroes are reasonably fit for good
family life, while nearly 20 per cent of the houses ought actually
to be destroyed . . .

"(a) There are two economic groups among the Negroes, the thrifty and
home-loving and the shiftless and disorderly. The whites are afflicted the
same way.

"(b) The judgment of fair-minded people that there is a large and grow-
ing percentage of thrifty and home-caring Negroes is amply borne out by
the survey. In the face of appalling obstacles, home ownership and respect-
able home and household conditions are fully evidenced by the facts set out
in the preceding pages.

"(c) There is no evidence that the Negroes of Dallas seek residential
quarters among the whites in order to be among the whites. The thrifty
and self-respecting Negroes' only endeavor in this respect is to find a place
where in peace and security, with and for their own people, they may have
opportunity for a respectable home life with the common environmental
privileges and conveniences which belong to decent living.

"(d) Evidence has been presented that the frequent cause for invitations

9 Mark, Mary Louise, Negroes in Columbus (Ohio), (Section on Hous-
ing Conditions), Columbus, Department of Sociology, Ohio State University,
Ohio State University Press, 1928.

STUDIES OF NEGRO HOUSING — ITS PHYSICAL ASPECTS 127

on the part of the whites through so-called encroachments on assumed
white territory, lies at the door of unscrupulous traders — and white traders
at that.

"(e) There is ample evidence of exploitation of Negroes, both as to
rentals and outright sales of property. This exploitation has many phases :
Sections wholly undesirable for human habitation.
Shacks unfit for habitation produce shocking revenues.
Houses without any common conveniences and with bad environment
produce exorbitant rentals.

Houses are left in bad repair the tenant fearing to urge repair lest
his rental be raised beyond reason.

Ground most unfitted for residences and without any convenience what-
ever is sold to purchasers at amazing prices.

In purchases, the Negro is frequently mulcted in his purchase to the
extent of 25 per cent or more beyond what a white purchaser would pay.
"(f) The promotion of good housing and home owning is always in con-
templation of the thrifty and industrious.

"Having then in mind that, to their own lasting credit Negroes
are seeking to promote a clean, respectable home life, the follow-
ing must not be forgotten. The shiftless white family may be
willing to live anywhere under most any evil condition. But
when the white wishes to better his housing conditions, he can go
anywhere he chooses and is only limited by his financial condition.

"The respectable Negro, on the other hand is not only limited
as to exact territory, but that limitation is usually set where decent
home conditions are most difficult or perhaps impossible to
provide." 10

Detroit, Michigan

"Housing is one of the most serious problems of the Negro in
Detroit. For some years the fluctuating shortage in the number of
houses for the population in general has had its greatest effect
upon the Negro group . . .

"This St. Antoine district, (which holds the largest Negro popu-
lation) may be termed a deteriorating area from the standpoint of
family housing. Bordering on the main commercial center of the
city, it is no longer a favorable location for residential purposes,
as factories, garages and other commercial establishments have
been built. The paving is not generally of the best and traffic
is heavy. Land values are high since the area is chiefly used for

10 A Survey of Negro^ Housing in Dallas, Texas, The Dallas Committee
on Interracial Cooperation, Civic Federation of Dallas, 1924-1925. (Manu-
script.)

128 NEGRO HOUSING

manufacturing or commercial purposes. A preponderance of the
houses are old frame dwellings, and as the landlords are inter-
ested in them only as a temporary source of income until the
property can be sold for other than residential purposes, sanitary
conditions are often far from the best. In some blocks the houses
are so dilapidated that expenditure on the part of the owner to
make them suitable for living purposes would be useless. How-
ever, since houses still remain and Negro tenants can be obtained
for them at any reasonable rent, most of them are still occupied.
"The fact that the whites in Detroit feel that the presence of a
Negro in a neighborhood depreciates property values is one of
the most important factors in 'the race problem'." 1J

Elizabeth, New Jersey

"In Elizabeth, as in many other northern cities, there are no
new houses built for occupancy by Negro tenants. Today, a
number of the houses occupied by Negroes, particularly in Eliza-
bethport, are unfit for human habitation. The life of such houses
is so long and their death, barring accidental destruction, is so
lingering and drawn out over so many years of decline and decay
that they are undesirable on external appearances alone. In some
cases essential repairs have been made, and the buildings have
remained occupied. Such conditions do not represent what the
City of Elizabeth approves as satisfactory according to its ordi-
nances, but they do represent what Elizabeth tolerates and offers
to the ever-increasing Negro population." 12

Evanston, Illinois

"Information on nationality and racial characteristics was
secured from a somewhat larger sample. Of the heads of 10,589
families, 80 per cent were native born white, 9 per cent colored,
and 11 per cent foreign born. The tendency of the Negro and
so-called foreign born families to concentrate in certain sections
of the city was noticeable, 78 per cent of the colored families
living in one small section about eight blocks in diameter on the
western edge of the city, and 40 per cent of the foreign born liv-

11 The Negro in Detroit (Section V, "Housing"), Prepared for the Mayor's
Interracial Committee, Detroit Bureau of Governmental Research, Inc., 1926.
( Mimeographed. )

13 Reid, Ira DeA., A Survey of the Negro Population of Elisabeth, N. /.,
New York, National Urban League, 1930.

STUDIES OF NEGRO HOUSING — ITS PHYSICAL ASPECTS 129

ing immediately adjacent to the Negroes in an equally small
section. The Polish families reveal the greatest tendency to con-
centrate, as nine-tenths of them live in this one 'foreign' section."
p. 171.13

Kansas City, Missouri

". . . Few cities in the United States have better housing for
the middle classes and for a large part of the working class; yet,
in spite of these hopeful conditions, Kansas City has a housing
problem of sufficient gravity to call for a vigorous movement to
eradicate the evils which now exist. The housing problem as
related to the Negro is an especially serious one, since only limited
districts are available to him for residence purposes; and, as the
population increases, these districts must either be enlarged or
become overcrowded. The latter course has usually prevailed, and
as a result the conditions have been gradually growing worse . . .
p. 86.

"These figures 14 show that the 1,009 persons represented occupy
1,069 rooms, which gives an average of 1.06 rooms for each indi-
vidual. These figures 14 do not indicate overcrowding to any great
extent, since the estimate for overcrowding is usually placed at
1.5 persons per room. We note also that 181, or 52 per cent of
the families, occupy three rooms ... p. 90.

"Toilet accommodations are also totally inadequate. The present
requirements of the sanitary ordinances of the city provide that
not less than one water-closet or privy shall be furnished for every
twenty persons, while the new building code provides that there
must be one of these for every fifteen persons. Little effort has
been made to enforce these provisions, especially in the old build-
ings where the mass of the Negroes are living ... p. 94.

"Only a small percentage of the houses in the congested Negro
districts are provided with baths, either tub or shower, though the
nature of the daily work done by both the Negro men and the
Negro women makes it absolutely necessary for them to keep
clean, if they are to retain their health and self-respect; yet the
houses in which they are forced to live are not provided with the

13 Hinman, Albert G., "An Inventory of Housing in a Suburban City,"
Journal of Land and Public Utility Economics, Chicago. May, 1931, Vol. 7,
pp. 169-180.

14 See Table, page 89, op. cit.

130 NEGRO HOUSING

means. In an investigation made by the Board of Public Welfare
near Garrison Square only two bathtubs were found in 827 Negro
houses. However, the conditions are not so bad in the other sec-
tions of the city. Since baths are not provided by the Negro in
his house, there remains no place in the entire city, save the free
baths in the Allen Chapel African Methodist Church and a few
Negro barber shops, where the Negro can secure a bath.

"Again, most of the Negro residences are provided neither with
gas nor with furnaces and since the basements are rented for liv-
ing purposes, no place is provided for storing fuel, and as a result
it must be purchased in small quantities.

"The question naturally arises, 'Why do these Negroes live in
such houses and in such environment, or why do they not move
into more desirable sections of the city?' As stated before, the
habitation of the Negro is restricted to certain districts, where
he must live under the conditions existing there. Hundreds of
Negroes, however, seem perfectly satisfied, not only with their
accommodations, but also with their station in life . . . pp. 96-97.

"For several years there has been a great demand for Negro
apartments; they have become quite fashionable among the
Negroes, as well as among the whites, and as a result a great
many have been erected to supply this demand. They offer some
conveniences, such as brick buildings, paved streets, light and
water, which the old dilapidated buildings on the North Side do
not offer ... p. 92.

"In the congested districts described above, where more than
15,000 Negroes live, the accommodations offered — whether the old
dilapidated buildings in 'Belvidere' or the cheap tenements on 'The
Bowery' — are very limited. Nearly half of the houses are with-
out water, while less than one-fourth of them possess either baths
or toilets. In many cases the water must be secured from a
hydrant back of the houses ; these hydrants are, of course, frozen
up during a good portion of the winter — a condition which makes
it necessary for the families to carry water from neighbors who
chance to be fortunate enough to have water in the house, or to
secure it from a near-by saloon. I was told by a number of white
landlords that they could not afford to put water in the houses,
since the Negro could not be depended upon to keep the house
warm, which resulted in the freezing of the pipes and a large
plumbing bill. Several instances were cited where such bills ex-

STUDIES OF NEGRO HOUSING — ITS PHYSICAL ASPECTS 131

ceed the rent during the winter months. In many of the tenement
houses a single hydrant in the hall supplied water for all the
families in the building." pp. 93-94.15

Knoxville, Tennessee

"The physical surroundings of the Negro family, for the most
part are poor; the ordinary conveniences, considered necessities
by the average white citizen, often are lacking. Often there is no
bathroom. Kerosene-lamp lighting is common, and in numerous
cases there is no electricity. Heating usually is done by wood or
coal stoves and furnaces are rather exceptional.

"Under 'Sanitary conditions in and around home' such nota-
tions as these are found :

Poorly constructed house; two and more families in three-room house;
home in filthy condition ; house and yard very unsanitary ; roof leaks ; paper
hanging from ceiling; window-panes out; plastering off; dilapidated condi-
tions ; general appearance very bad inside and out ; living conditions crowded,
ten and twelve in two rooms; no sanitary conveniences; children partly
clad and dirty.

"This is the common situation of the Negroes whose economic
standing is low and who cannot afford more than the minimum
living expenses. The variations are in degree rather than kind. To
dwellings in a little better sanitation and repair than those just
described, the adjective 'fair' was given." 16

Louisville, Kentucky

"The greatest problem in Louisville is that of housing and sani-
tation. Two-thirds of the houses in which the working class of
colored people live are without sewerage connection and are as a
result afflicted with the privy vault which is very often found to be
overflowing and thus contaminating the entire neighborhood. Gar-
bage in many instances is left uncollected and this adds to the
disease-breeding plague spots of the community . . ." p. 138.

^Martin, Asa E., Our Negro Population (M.A. Thesis at William Jewell
College, Liberty, Mo.), Kansas City, Franklin Hudson Publishing Company,
1913.

18 Daves, J. H., A Social Study of the Colored Population of Knoxville,
Tennessee, Knoxville, The Free Colored Library, 1926.

17 Ragland, J. M., "The Negro in Louisville," Southern Workman, March,
1925, Vol. 54, pp. 137-139.

132 NEGRO HOUSING

Minneapolis, Minnesota

"When compared with thirteen other northern cities, Minne-
apolis had in 1920 a relatively small percentage of Negro popula-
tion; 3,927 ... of a total population of 380,582, or about 1
per cent.

"One very salient feature of the housing conditions as revealed
by the study of 527 families is the absence of overcrowding.
Ninety-seven per cent of the homes observed had water; 90 per
cent had sewer connection; 95 per cent had gas and 74 per cent
electricity." 18

New York, New York

"From September 30, 1920, when there were 1,320,000 suites
for tenants in one- and two-room houses, to September 30, 1925,
when this number had increased to 1,588,000 or 20 per cent, less
than twelve of the total number of houses constructed were
available for the colored population of Harlem. The Commission
on Housing and Regional Planning in its report of December 23,
1925, stated that the 'amount of new construction within the past
three years has been without precedent. It is safe to conclude
therefore, that there is no mass shortage today, i.e., if price were
no factor, the families in New York City might all find accom-
modations. However, price in relation to income is the essence
of the problem/

"As a basis for our figures we may give the bases for the
decision of the Housing Commission. The standard is one room
to serve for kitchen, dining-room and living-room, and not more
than two people to each remaining room. On this basis it was
found that in the block in Harlem there was a percentage of over-
crowded apartments as follows: 1919 — 3.5 per cent; 1923 — 4.5
per cent ; 1925 — 3.7 per cent. Since overcrowding is regarded as
a measure of extreme congestion, the vast majority of families in
New York do not live under the conditions of crowding that fall
under the definition as set up in the Commission's report.

"The Commission further holds that it 'cannot state too
emphatically the fact, that any housing problem that exists in the
white community, exists in exaggerated form in Harlem.' The
present problem is not the increase that the Negro, like the white

M Harris, Abram L., The Negro Population in Minneapolis, A Study of
Race Relations, Minneapolis, Minneapolis Urban League, 1926.

STUDIES OF NEGRO HOUSING — ITS PHYSICAL ASPECTS 133

tenant, is forced to pay from year to year, but the enormous
premium he has to pay in comparison with white tenants.

"From the statements on the size of households and of the num-
ber of rooms in the apartments, some indication may be given of
the extent of overcrowding within the apartments. Aside from
the standards set by the Commission on overcrowding, other
standards may be mentioned. Overcrowding is often considered
present when the number of persons exceeds the number of rooms
by one-half. Accepting this method as a test we find that 9.9
per cent of the households were overcrowded.

"The recent activity on the part of the Commission on Housing
and Regional Planning which stimulated community councils and
housing committees in various sections of the city has had its
effect upon Harlem. Tenants who were formerly very satisfied
with the homes they found available, realized that they were below
the average, and proceeded to register their complaints with the
Tenement House Department and through the Community Coun-
cils. The severe agitation which has taken place in Harlem would
lead one to think that everything was not in favor of the tenant,
and that no landlord was living up to the standards of decency in
providing satisfactory housing conditions.

"Twenty-two per cent of the replies of families stated that the
condition of their apartment was 'good'; 18 per cent stated that
it was 'fair'; 12 per cent did not answer; 48 per cent stated that
it was either 'poor,' 'bad,' or 'needed cleaning'." 19

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

"The background of any picture of the housing of an immigrant
people in a city or state is always the housing that exists there at
the time of their arrival, particularly the housing of the people of
the same economic level as themselves. Hence, in any discussion
of the living accommodations of the Negro families which have
recently come to Pennsylvania there must be kept clearly in mind
the picture of conditions which existed in Pennsylvania when
these newcomers entered the state. Let us review these conditions :

First — There was the housing shortage, affecting a large percentage of
the low-wage-earning and renting class.

19 Reid, Ira DeA., Twenty-four Hundred Negro Families in Harlem, New
York, New York Urban League, 1927.

134 NEGRO HOUSING

Second — There was an unchecked and increasingly vicious rent profiteer-
ing being practiced upon this same group.

Third — In a measure because of the housing shortage and rent profiteer-
ing, though equally due to other causes, there was a widespread prevalence
of insanitation and congested occupancy.

Fourth — Racial attractions and antipathies were reacting upon special
groups, including Pennsylvania Negroes, and forcing segregation ... p. 46.

"The background of the picture of Negro migrant housing in
Philadelphia is practically the same as that for the state at large.
We have our housing shortage, affecting tens of thousands of the
low-wage-earning class. We have our mounting rentals, exceeding
in many instances, by over 100 per cent, rentals charged for the
same accommodations in 1914. We have widespread overcrowd-
ing and insanitation. We have old houses inherited by the poor
as cheaper rental properties but miserable in their fitting for
human habitation. Into a large number of these buildings and
areas, a Negro population already had been forced to move.
Thus, when the new Negro immigrant came to the city, he found
his choice restricted and he went where doubling-up was under-
stood and taken for granted.

"We do not know how many newcomers have thus obtained
residence in Philadelphia, though from several surveys that have
been made it is estimated the number approximates 10,500 per
year for the past two years. Some found individual houses in
the newer areas opening up to colored occupancy. But by far
the majority went into the old areas. A spot map of migrant
families, reported to the Migration Committee and made in the
office of the Housing Association, shows that the bulk of the
known residences of these migrants was in the old and densely
populated Negro centers in the Middle City, South Philadelphia,
and West Philadelphia ... p. 47.

"High rents accompany almost every case of overcrowding.
Usually one-room apartments are sublet on a weekly basis and
seldom does the rent fall as low as $3.50 per week. Rents on such
a basis of occupancy vary, but one house of six rooms returned a
rental of $81 a month; another, of nine rooms, netted $108 a
month; a house of twelve rooms brought in $224 a month; one
six-room- house which rented in 1914 to one family for $14 a
month was changed into three apartments, by the addition of a
sink and toilet on the second floor, and now brings in $100 a

STUDIES OF NEGRO HOUSING — ITS PHYSICAL ASPECTS 135

month; and still another house rented to a migrant for $65 a
month was sublet by him to thirty-eight persons, nearly all
migrants, so as to return him almost $100 a week. It has one
toilet in the yard and no bath or toilet in the house.

"It would be only repetition to say that insanitation and incom-
plete sanitary equipment go with such occupancy conditions. To
the one-room occupancy anyone making an enumeration of the
housing evils attending such living would have to add cellar and
attic living, obstructed drainage, disrepair, accumulation of rub-
bish and filth, and other nuisances unmentionable. One day's in-
spection of 63 such houses uncovered 90 violations of the Housing
Law." p. 47.20

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

"The deplorable housing of migrant families is shown in Table
VI.21 Of the 157 families investigated, 77, or 49 per cent, live in
one room each. Thirty- three, or 21 per cent, live in two-room
apartments, and only 47 families, or 30 per cent, live in apart-
ments of three or more rooms each.

"Of these 47 families, 38 kept roomers or boarders, totaling
131, or an average of 3.5 roomers per family. Eighty-one of the
total of 139 houses inspected had water inside the house, while 58
houses secured water from yard or street hydrants or from neigh-
bors. Only 34 of the total were equipped with interior toilet
facilities; the rest had outside toilets. Of the latter, 42 had no
sewerage connections, and used filthy, unsanitary vaults ... p. 15.

Rents Paid by 142 Families Investigated

$10 per month 41

15 per month 60

20 per month 18

25 per month 13

Over $25 10

"The sections formerly designated as Negro quarters, have been
long since congested beyond capacity by the influx of newcomers,
and a score of new colonies have sprung up in hollows and ravines,
on hill slopes and along river banks, by railroad tracks and mill-
yards. In many instances the dwellings are those which have been

Newman, Bernard J., 'The Housing of Negro Immigrants in Pennsyl-
vania," Opportunity, February, 1924, Vol. 2, pp. 46-48.
21 See p. 10, op. cit.

136 NEGRO HOUSING

abandoned by foreign white people since the beginning of the
present war. In some cases they are structures once condemned
by the City Bureau of Sanitation, but opened again only to accom-
modate the influx from the South. Very few of these houses are
equipped with gas. Coal and wood are used both for cooking and
heating . . ." p. 16.22

"1. The total number of families (studied) was 216, averaging
in size 4.9 persons.

"2. The average number of rooms per dwelling was 4.2.

"3. There was an average of 1.86 persons per sleeping room.

"4. The average rent for all dwellings was $32.76; distributed
by rooms the average rentals were as follows :

2 rooms $18.77 6 rooms $44.68

3 rooms 25.09 7 rooms 48.11

4 rooms 31.12 8 rooms 64.00

5 rooms 35.84 9 rooms 79.00

The average rent per room was $7.78. This is lower than Hall's
average of $8.93 in 1929, and higher than Wright's average of
$7.39 in 1927.

"5. Thirty-five per cent of the families had lodgers. These
lodgers paid an average weekly rent of $4.21.

"6. Fifty-two per cent of the families had children under 16
years of age.

"7. The average number of children per family unit having
children was 2.59.

"8. The average number of children per total family units was
1.35.

"9. The four-room house was the predominant size, while 18.7
per cent were of less than four rooms and 26.9 per cent more than
that number.

"10. Conveniences were distributed as follows:

Per cent of families having gas 93.0

Per cent of families having electricity 80.0

Per cent of families having bath 62.7

Per cent of families having hot water 64.3

Per cent of families having toilets in hall and basement 16.5

Per cent of families having toilets in yard 17.4

Per cent of families having toilets in house 66.1

Per cent of families having water supply outside 7.3

"11. Of the toilets located within the house 63.1 per cent were

22 Epstein, Abraham, The Negro Migrant in Pittsburgh, (A Study in So-
cial Economics), published under the supervision of the School of Economics,
University of Pittsburgh, 1918.

STUDIES OF NEGRO HOUSING — ITS PHYSICAL ASPECTS 137

used by one family, 28.1 per cent by two families, and 6.1 per
cent by three or more families. Of those toilets located without
the house 42 per cent were used by one family, 38 per cent by two

families, 20 per cent by three or more families." p. 32.23

*****

"A study made in the fall and winter of 1928-29 is based on an
analysis of 218 families and 227 dwellings in the Hill District.
Its findings may be summarized as follows :

1. Negro migrants have moved into the same sections, and often the
same houses, occupied by practically all new groups on first coming to
Pittsburgh.

2. The average size of the Negro family is 4.3 persons.

3. The average number of rooms in Negro dwellings was 3.79 ;
the average number of persons per room was 1.05 ;

the average number of families per dwelling was 1.13.

4. Of the 227 dwellings studied 21 had outside toilets; 14 had outside
water; 153 had baths; 217 had gas; 182 had electric lights; 56 had laundry
tubs; and 14 had furnaces.

5. The average weekly earnings of the male heads of families were
$27.09. The maximum weekly wage was $68.75 — the minimum, $10.

6. The average weekly income of the 227 families was $32.02. This amount
includes earnings in addition to those of the heads of families. They were
augmented as follows:

By wives' work 41 families

By income from lodgers 73 families

By alimony 1 family

The median weekly income was $31, the minimum, $10, and the maxi-
mum $85.

7. The average rent per room per month was $8.93. The range of rents
was from a minimum of $11.50 for a two-room dwelling to a maximum
of $100 for a twelve-room dwelling. The median monthly rent was $38.

8. These Negro families pay an average of 24.4 per cent of their (total
family) income for rent. For the two-room dwellings it is 20.8 per cent;
three-room, 25.8 per cent; four rooms, 29.3 per cent; five rooms, 29 per
cent ; six rooms, 30.9 per cent." 2*

Richmond, Virginia

"The differences here brought out are due to a number of cir-
cumstances, some of which are within the control of the Negroes
themselves, but for the others the responsibility rests on the white

23 Reid, Ira DeA., Social Conditions of the Negro in the Hill District of
Pittsburgh, General Committee on the Hill Survey, Pittsburgh (National
Urban League), 1930.

24 Hall, Wiley A., Negro Housing and Rents in the Hill District of Pitts-
burgh, (M.A. Thesis) University of Pittsburgh, 1929. (Unpublished.)

138 NEGRO HOUSING

people, who control the political machinery, and who direct the
expenditure of municipal funds ... p. 46.

"There is a general lack of paving in the Negro residential areas.
This fact constitutes a chief cause for complaint and is the reason
most generally assigned for the aggressiveness in pushing into
white areas which is generally evidenced among the Negroes in
Richmond. This was the principal cause assigned for the spread
of the Negro residential area eastward along Leigh, Clay and
Marshall Streets. In Fulton, especially, the condition of the
streets is such as would not be tolerated in a white community.
At certain seasons of the year the slippery red mud on the hill-
sides on which the Negroes live in this section offers such obstruc-
tion to travel that motor vehicles attempt to traverse these streets
only at the peril of becoming stuck fast in the mud. Such condi-
tions are perhaps worse and of greater extent in Fulton than in
any of the other sections, but unpaved streets, and few sidewalks,
rough in dry weather and intolerably muddy and slick in wet
weather are the outstanding characteristics of the Negro sec-
tions . . ." p. 53.25

* * * * *

"The long tabulations on the sanitary conditions, conveniences,
state of repair, and general state of satisfaction of the residents
will not be given here, but the figures incontestably establish this
fact : Negro owners of property take more interest in maintaining
their homes in a clean and sanitary condition than do renters.
Possibly Negro renters tend to become discouraged because of the
few conveniences and poor state of repair. At least two-thirds of
the rented houses visited needed essential repairs or alterations.
Almost everything seemed to be wrong with the houses : Leaking
roofs were mentioned again and again ; plastering was down ;
paper, painting or calcimining was needed everywhere; many
porches, fences, gutters were broken; plumbing defects of every
kind were noted. A large number of the very old houses in Jack-
son Ward could only be described as generally dilapidated and
hardly fit for human habitation . . ." p. 72.26

*****

"The News-Leader today completed an investigation which dis-

25 Knight, Charles Louis, Negro Homing in Certain Virginia Cities (Rich-
mond, Lynchburg and Charlottesville), (University of Virginia, Phelps-
Stokes Fellowship Paper No. 8), Richmond, The William Byrd Press, 1927.
"The Negro in Richmond, Virginia," Report of the Negro Welfare Sur-
vey Committee, Richmond Council of Social Agencies, 1929.

STUDIES OF NEGRO HOUSING — ITS PHYSICAL ASPECTS 139

closes that housing conditions among Negroes residing in the
poorer sections of Richmond are disgraceful, inhuman, pestilential
and in a civic sense entirely too costly to be tolerated by the people
of this city.

"The investigation, embracing 483 Negro homes, each of them
inspected in minute detail, showed that :

The average Negro home in the poorer sections contains 4 persons, and
is supported by an income of $12.50 per week;

A majority of these homes are old, and at least one-half are in various
stages of dilapidation;

Less than one of every eight homes has plumbing facilities inside the
house ;

Only one in three has a water connection inside the house;

The average home contains less than four rooms ;

In 14 per cent of these homes there is neither a kitchen nor a bathroom ;

As many as fourteen persons were found living in one three-room shack,
and in another home eight persons regularly sleep in the same room ;

Filth and squalor obtain in many of these homes ;

Unmentionable vice and disease flourish under the conditions existent
in the worst of these homes.

"The findings of this investigation, although they picture in-
human, wasteful and deplorable living conditions, were not un-
known in Richmond heretofore. Eighteen years ago, after com-
pleting a thorough study of housing conditions in Richmond,
Gustavus A. Weber declared that there were in Richmond homes
'poorly lighted, unventilated, damp, imperfectly drained, exposed
to undue fire peril, in bad repair, vermin infested, disease infested,
with unclean surroundings, with insufficient water supply, without
toilet accommodations adequate for comfort, cleanliness or privacy,
with defective plumbing, with overcrowded rooms, and with cellar
tenements'." 27

Troy, New York

"The neighborhoods in which the majority of Negroes live are
fairly well defined. There are no exclusive Negro areas but the
oldest parts of the city in which are found the cheapest rents as
well as the most unsatisfactory housing form the sections that in-
clude what fully 85 per cent of the population call 'home.'

^Corson, John J., Ill, "Negro Housing in Richmond," Richmond News-
Leader, September 21 to October 1, 1931.

140 NEGRO HOUSING

"An analysis of the conditions of all families, however, showed
that out of 99 households,

46 had no bathrooms

13 had outside toilets

24 had no light other than an oil lamp

27 showed general housing conditions that were classified as bad.

"The tenants themselves give most effective testimony on the
general housing and neighborhood conditions. Though the current
depression has caused hardships on tenant as well as owner, the
former being unable to pay his rent and the latter unable to collect,
the tenants believe that there can be some improvements . . .

"No one remembers when last new houses have been available
for Negro renters in Troy. A few Negroes (the estimates range
from twelve to fifteen) own or are purchasing real properties
valued at $150,000. In general the homes purchased have not been
new." 28

Washington, D. C.

"Unlike most American cities, Washington has no specific
geographical localization of its Negro population. Instead of a
definitely bounded territory into which almost the entire Negro
population is crowded, there are scattered communities which dis-
tribute the Negro population throughout practically the entire
city ... p. 57.

"In general, there are two types of houses in which Negro
families in Washington live. First, those that are built originally
for white people and have been taken over by colored renters or
buyers. Second, houses built especially for Negro occupancy.
The first type of house is in nearly every instance superior in
quality to the latter, and is generally preferred by Negroes who
desire durable homes . . ." p. 91. 29

Worcester, Massachusetts

"Worcester has no 'black belt' for her Negro citizens. They
live on the East Side and on the West Side and in all sections of
the city.

28 Reid, Ira DeA., Trojans of Color — A Social Survey of the Negro Popu-
lation of Troy, N. Y., New York, National Urban League, 1931.

29 Jones, William Henry, The Housing of Negroes in Washington, D. C.,
Washington, Howard University Press, 1929.

STUDIES OF NEGRO HOUSING — ITS PHYSICAL ASPECTS 141

"A trip through the sections largely inhabited by Negroes shows
that many of the streets on which these homes face are in a bad
state of repair. Many of the homes occupied by Negroes are
likewise without some of the sanitary facilities now considered
necessary . . ." 30

II. Rural Surveys

"The southern farmer is a one crop man and especially is this
true of the Negro farmer ... p. 1.

". . . Up to 1910 the colored farmers had made progress not
only in the number of farms which they cultivated but also in
climbing the tenant ladder from the position of dependent laborer
to that of semi-dependent half-share tenant, and on to a position
of third- and fourth-share tenant, independent renter of land, and
farm owner. The number of owners had increased in 1910 until
219,000 Negroes owned their land. While there were 161,600
Negro owners in the Southeast in 1910, this number decreased to
145,900 by 1925, indicating a surprising proportion who are losing
heart and moving to the city ... p. 12.

"Thus the depression in the cotton area has not only occasioned
a decrease in the number of Negro farmers but has forced the
masses, those remaining on the farm, downward in the scale.
Here and there it is possible to find farmers who are making
money but the majority have been in serious financial straits. The
proportion of Negro croppers to the total number of Negro
farmers in the extreme southeastern states increased from 39 per
cent in 1920 to 46 per cent in 1925. The actual number of crop-
pers remained about the same but their proportion rose sharply
because of the striking decrease in the higher classes of tenants.
Part of this loss in Negro tenant farmers is made up for by the
increase of the white tenant classes in the South. This increase
in white tenancy is largely in the class of share tenants who fur-
nish their own animals and implements and farm for two-thirds
or three-fourths of the crop. The increase in share tenancy,
especially in cropping, is very discouraging. The croppers are
those who have no tools or animals and farm chiefly for the
money crop, neglecting food and feed crops and the breeding of
domestic animals.

30 Moss, R. Maurice, Survey of the Negro Population of Worcester, Mass.,
New York, National Urban League, 1929.

142 NEGRO HOUSING

"On the whole, therefore, the picture shown by the period from
1920 to 1925 presents a discouraging situation in the farming of
the Negro and of southern agriculture in general. A post-war
deflation and a subsequent calamity of overproduction of cotton
fell most heavily on the four extreme southeastern cotton states,
and especially upon the Negro farmers in those states. The result
has been a tremendous loss in agricultural productivity."
pp. 13-14.31

aWoofter, T. J. Jr., A Study of the Economic Status of the Negro,
Chicago, Julius Rosenwald Fund, 1930. (Mimeographed.)

APPENDIX II

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC FACTORS IN
NEGRO HOUSING

HOUSING CONDITIONS AMONG NEGROES IN CHICAGO — WITH
SPECIAL REFERENCE TO JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 1

A study of housing in relationship to juvenile delinquency may
easily lead to deductions that are unwarranted. To avoid fallacious
findings a necessary preliminary step is to recognize the multiple
factors involved in the total situation. Secondly, units of measure-
ment should be ascertained which may give an evaluation to the
respective importance of these factors.

Any discussion, then, of housing among Negroes must recog-
nize more than the physical aspects of the subject. Indeed, even
the additional presentation of statistics as to the amount of rent
paid, the number of rooms occupied, etc., is not enough. The
presentation of such facts may make available added information
about life among Negroes. The mere enumeration of such facts,
however, does not give understanding. Unless such materials are
regarded only as indices and, as such, are regarded only as a unit
in the totality of Negro life, fallacious deductions may easily arise.

Behind these formal materials are the memories, the aims, the
hopes, the ambitions, and the aspirations of individuals. More-
over, the behavior of the individual can be understood only when
considered in relationship to the group of which he is a member.
He is inevitably bound up with the mores, the customs and the
traditions of the group. True, he may seek to escape the group.
But in the process of escape his emancipation from the group
tends to secularize his behavior. He undergoes a period of dis-
organization. And in the course of achieving status in a new group
his response to the total situation depends upon the degree of re-
organization and the rapidity with which it takes place.

To understand the individual, the group, or the community,
recognition of cultural differences within the racial group is es-
sential. Social, economic, and occupational levels, for example,

1 This paper was prepared for the Group on Social and Economic Factors
of the Committee on Negro Housing by Earl R. Moses, Department of Re-
search and Records, Chicago Urban League, and was submitted by that
group as an appendix to the committee's report.

143

144

NEGRO HOUSING

are indices through which these cultural differences may be meas-
ured. Further, the selective and segregative processes operating
within the group make intelligible these differences.

In the course of this study an attempt is made to show the
relationship between delinquency and housing, differences in Negro
communities, how these differences are reflected in physical aspects
of housing and, last, how these factors all contribute to the prev-
alence or absence of delinquency in a community. Emphasis,
then, shall be on delinquency in community relationships, keeping
in mind, however, the importance of housing in this relationship.

Certain questions are of primary importance in studying the
relationship of delinquency to the social and economic factors in-
volved in the housing of Negroes. The answer to these questions
will make intelligible certain fundamental aspects of the problem.
Some of these questions are: What is the nature of the problem
of delinquency and crime among Negroes ? What are Negro com-
munities? What are the characteristics of such communities?
Are there differences in these communities? If so, why? How
are Negro delinquents distributed? Is the distribution static or
changing? How far is the Negro delinquent the product of the
Negro community?

Answers to these questions are sought, in part at least, in the
materials embodied in this paper.

I. The Problem of Delinquency and Crime

The rapid increase in delinquency and crime among Negroes in
Chicago in recent years has focused attention on this racial group.
Relative to the increase in delinquency among Negroes, a state
parole officer writes, in part :

"The sensational increase in juvenile Negro delinquency gives the greatest
concern to all good citizenship as having a far-reaching effect along moral
and economic lines . . .

"The number of white boys has remained practically at a standstill, if it
has not decreased, while that of Negro boys shows an increase far out of
proportion to race statistics." 2

Turning to the field of adult crime, one encounters anything from
conservative estimates to wild speculations as to the extent of
adult crime. In the latter connection the statement has frequently
been made that, although the Negroes compose only about 5 per

2 Communication from M. H. Cone, State of Illinois Parole Officer.

HOUSING CONDITIONS AND DELINQUENCY IN CHICAGO 145

cent of the total population in Chicago, they contribute nearly 50
per cent of the homicides.

As a background for the discussion of social and economic
factors in housing among Negro families in which there are de-
linquents, it is desirable that cognizance should first be taken of
the nature and extent of the problem of delinquency and crime.

Juvenile Delinquency

The increase in delinquency among Negroes has not only been
recorded in Chicago but has been noted as well in other large
centers of population. The increase has been attributed largely
to the influx of southern migrants into cities above the Mason
and Dixon line. In popular discussions some even attribute the
increase to the transplantation of actual delinquents from the
South, who merely continue their delinquent activities in a new
situation.

Patient investigations have revealed that the increase in juvenile
delinquency has been largely a matter of the segregation of
Negroes into areas of deterioration. An excellent summary of the
situation is contained in the following excerpt :

"The real problem ... of colored people of Chicago, as in all northern
cities, lies in the fact of their segregation. While they do not occupy all the
worst streets and live in all unsanitary houses in Chicago, what is known as
the 'Black Belt' is altogether forbidding and demoralizing. The huddling
together of good and bad, compelling the decent element of colored people
to witness brazen display of vice . . . are trying conditions." 3

In addition, attention is called to the fact that a research proj-
ect * involving an intensive study of delinquency among Negroes
reveals that the increase in delinquency follows the same funda-
mental processes for any newcomer. This is true regardless of
racial or national identity. Shaw states a fundamental aspect of
the problem as follows :

"In such cases" (referring to population influx into Chicago) "the proc-

3 Williams, Fannie B., Social Bonds in the Black Belt of Chicago, an
M. A. thesis in the University of Chicago library, which, in turn, quotes from
the "Douglas," the history of a local community in Chicago, by the Social
Science Research Committee of the University. These volumes (the history
of local communities in Chicago) are available only in the library of the
University of Chicago.

* Juvenile Delinquency among Negroes in Chicago, a research project now
being carried on by the writer under the auspices of the Chicago Urban
League and the Local Community Research Committee of the University
of Chicago.

146 NEGRO HOUSING

ess has been the same. The most recent immigrants enter and secure a
footing by invading the areas of lowest rank in the deteriorated areas ad-
jacent to the Loop and the large industrial centers. In time another group
enters and displaces the population ahead of it and pushes it out into what
may be called areas of second settlement." B

It may be accepted without question that the physical aspects
of housing contribute decidedly to the character of a community,
and the foregoing excerpts suggest that housing conditions are
a potent factor in determining the degree of social organization
in the community, and consequently community norms of behavior.

A detailed analysis of what are the housing conditions and social
and economic levels of different communities will be discussed
later. Our present interest revolves about the growth and extent
of delinquency among Negroes. This will afford an opportunity
of securing an adequate background to study the relationship be-
tween increase in delinquency and the social and economic levels
in community life. After all, the problem of housing of the
juvenile delinquent resolves itself primarily into the problem of
housing as it relates to his adult parents. The juvenile delinquent
is not faced with the responsibility of family income as a means
of sustenance. His is not, in general, the problem of a job, of
securing meat and bread. He is a consumer. However, he shares
the conditions to which his parents are subjected. Their condi-
tion, in turn, depends upon their level of income.

Population Growth and Increase of Delinquency. In 1900,
the Negro population of Chicago numbered 30,150, or 1.8 per
cent of the total population. Of the 8,056 male delinquents, ten
to seventeen years of age, brought before the Juvenile Court of
Cook County (Illinois) during the years 1900 to 1906,6 278, or
3.5 per cent, were Negroes.7 The Negro population of Chicago
in 1910 numbered 44,103, or 2 per cent of the total population.

5 Shaw, Clifford R., et. al.t Delinquency Areas, Chicago, University of
Chicago Press, 1929, p. 17.

6 The series of 1900-1906 and 1917-1923 are not to be confused with Ta-
ble I. The former deals with individuals (boys only) against whom one or
more petitions have been filed. The latter deals with final orders of the court
disposing of each case (boys and girls), and therefore, exceeds the former.

7 The writer is indebted to Clifford R. Shaw, of the Institute for Juvenile
Research, for use of original data dealing with 1900-1906 and 1917-1923
series. For discussion of these data by Mr. Shaw see "Housing and the
Community, Home Repair and Remodeling," Publications of the President's
Conference on Home Building and Home Ownership, Washington, 1932,
Vol. VIII, Part I.

HOUSING CONDITIONS AND DELINQUENCY IN CHICAGO 147

Negro delinquents, however, had increased to 102 or 6.2 per cent
of the total delinquents (1,636) for that year. There were 8,141
male delinquents, ten to seventeen years of age, brought before the
Juvenile Court of Cook County during the years 1917 to 1923.

Of that number 541, or 6.6 per cent, were Negroes. In the
decade from 1910 to 1920 the Negro population had increased to
109,594 or 4.1 per cent of the total population. In 1920 Negro
delinquents had increased to 310 or 12.2 per cent of the total
delinquents (2,550) for that year. By 1930 the Negro popula-
tion had increased to approximately 6.5 per cent of the total popula-
tion.8 In the decade Negro delinquents had increased to 22.8 per
cent (579) of the total (2,538) delinquents for the year. A com-
parison of the population increase with the increase in delinquency
(Table I) shows that in recent years the increase in delinquents
has been, relatively, far greater. Table I shows the increase in
Negro delinquents appearing before the Cook County Juvenile
Court (Chicago).

Table I. Total Yearly Delinquents Before the Cook County

Juvenile Court, Showing Total Negroes and Per Cent

to Total Delinquents, by Five Year Intervals

Year

Total
Delinquents

Total
Negroes

Per Cent
Negroes

1905 . .

2,473

117

4.7

1910

1 636

102

6.2

1915

2,912

216

7.4

1920

2,550

310

12.1

1925

2,513

424

16.4

1930

3,095

657

21.2

There are other indices that may be used to indicate the increase
in delinquency among Negroes. The foregoing, however, is con-
sidered enough.

Offenders of Boys' Court Age. The number of individual
Negro male offenders appearing in the Boys' Court 9 exceeds the
number of delinquents appearing in the Juvenile Court. Never-
theless, the percentage of Negroes to the total cases shows a

8 The final revision figures (official) are not available at this writing.

9 The Boys' Court handles cases of boys from seventeen to twenty-one
years of age. However, adults sometime appear in this court when arrested
for offenses involving those who normally appear there.

148

NEGRO HOUSING

striking similarity in both groups. Even so the problem of the
older boy is more acute because of the feeling of the futility of
"going straight." The difficulty of securing jobs and lack of
adequate housing facilities complicate the problem of adjustment
for these boys. Even when a job is secured the level of income is
so low that life for them is on a minimum subsistence level.

The number of Negro boys appearing in the Boys' Court has
been estimated in lay discussions as high as 40 per cent of the total
number in court. The actual percentage is far lower. The number
and percentage for the past four years are as follows : 10

Table II. Percentage of Negro Boys of Total Cases in Boys1
Court, Chicago, Four Year Period.

Year

Total
Cases

Negro
Cases

Per Cent
Negroes

1927

6 902

800

11 6

1928 .

5 680

960

16 9

1929

6 209

889

14 3

1930

6,400

1 347

21 0

Housing and Income. An aspect of housing that receives
little or no attention in the large centers of population is that of
housing for unattached boys of sixteen years of age and over. It
is generally assumed that the Y. M. C. A. and kindred organiza-
tions are or should be the center of activities of unattached boys
and young men. There is ample observational and some statistical
evidence that such organizations reach but a small percentage of
such cases. The lack of knowledge, training and experience, lack
in range of social contacts, and lack of individual economic re-
sources are all contributing factors which prevent such organiza-
tions from serving many unattached boys.

It is the opinion of some persons engaged in social service work
among Negro boys appearing before the Municipal Court, Boys'
Division, in the City of Chicago, that a considerable portion of
crime among those appearing in this court is due to situations
arising out of lack of proper facilities for housing on the one hand,

10 The figures were supplied by Joseph D. Bryan, social worker among
Negro boys in the Boys' Court. The yearly total of cases is approximate.
The total number of Negro cases is accurate.

HOUSING CONDITIONS AND DELINQUENCY IN CHICAGO 149

and the extremely small income on the other. In the course of a
study of juvenile delinquency among Negroes in Chicago, the
writer has interviewed boys who have appeared in the Boys' Court.
In many instances their stories have substantiated one another.
These cases point to the fact that jobs are almost impossible to
secure and when secured pay barely enough to cover room rent,
board and a minimum of incidentals.

There are two sources in Chicago through which these boys are
generally housed. The first is the Hope Haven League. This is an
organization headed by an individual who has had a long prison
record and who, having renounced any further life in crime, has
devoted himself to the establishment of a home where boys just
released from prison may have an opportunity of getting a fresh
start in life. A boy is allowed free room and board until he can
secure work. In some instances this contact covers only a period
of a few days. Others, however, must rely upon the resources of
this organization for an indefinite period. Support of this organiza-
tion comes from popular subscriptions and the resources of its
founder. The second source of housing for those of Boys' Court
age is in private homes or cheap hotels and is designed to care for
those having jobs. Placements are most frequently made through
Joseph D. Bryan, social worker among Negroes in the Boys'
Court. The following quotation from a communication from Mr.
Bryan suggests the nature of the problem :

"The average wage for the average boy which we have had to work with
is $10, ranging from $8 to $12. The average room and the kind of place
that is required or suggested ranges from between $4 and $6 a week. The
payment of $4 a week for his room, $1.20 for his carfare, $3.50 for his meal
ticket, makes it almost impossible for a boy to keep out of trouble. The
average home in which a boy is placed does not measure up to the standard.
The average person whose spirit is fine is seldom able, educationally or
religiously, to help the boy . . ."

Attempts at Adjustment and Prevention. Until recent
months the social service machinery of the Boys' Court would not
allow for an intensive follow-up of the cases appearing therein.
Practically all of the social work done was through various cultural
or religious groups, arranging for workers to take care of boys
identified with their own interests. Thus the Polish group or the
Catholic group would have workers to care for members of their
racial or religious identification. For the past three years, work

150 NEGRO HOUSING

among Negro boys has been done by Joseph D. Bryan. The be-
ginnings of this work were voluntary and later secured religious
backing. Excerpts from a communication from Mr. Bryan in-
dicate something of the scope of the problem as it relates to hous-
ing and crime, and the methods used for adjustment and preven-
tion:

"In cases where boys do not have homes, friends, jobs, these are supposed
to be secured. An attempt is made to study the case more thoroughly ; the
boy is placed under supervision. This is especially true of those boys who
do not have homes, parents or friends and are not linked up with churches
or other agencies or organizations. We can get their family background,
early reactions in life, etc., which makes it easier to help them find their
niche. Jobs according to their fitness are usually secured. We secure
clothing for them, then we find a place where they can stay and look out
for themselves. But we still follow up the case of each boy for about six
months or a year. If, after that time, we feel they are capable of looking
out for themselves, we do what most agencies do, dismiss the case subject
to reopening if necessary. No supervision case is disposed of until the boy's
adjustment is considered permanent . . . ."

In the course of contacts with hundreds of Negro boys appear-
ing in the Boys' Court, Mr. Bryan is of the opinion that many of
the boys are victims of circumstance. This is especially true in
many cases where the boy is brought out of the South as a
chauffeur for a private family or more often working in such
capacity for a traveling salesman. In either case the employer
promises a great deal to the boy as an inducement to enter such
service. In some instances the boy drives his employer as far as
a town or city near Chicago, where either of two general patterns
of behavior is followed. Sometimes the boy is induced to put what
little money he may have in the care of his employer. Later the
ruse is employed of sending the boy into a restaurant to eat and
while he is eating his employer drives away, leaving him completely
stranded. In other cases, the employer gives the boy five or ten
dollars and advises him that his services are no longer needed.11
Left on his own resources and in a situation to which his past ex-
perience totally unsuits him, it is only a question of time before,
being completely stranded, the boy, through sheer necessity, is
driven to petty crime for a livelihood, or in other cases is arrested
as a vagrant.

11 Mr. Bryan reports that numerous cases of each type come to his atten-
tion yearly. The writer has talked with two boys falling under the first
type of situation and one under the latter.

HOUSING CONDITIONS AND DELINQUENCY IN CHICAGO 151

One of the important needs then revolves about the unattached
Negro boy sixteen years of age and over. While this problem
does not have to do with housing in the sense that surveys usually
deal with it, it is, nevertheless, a real and acute problem. As a
matter of assisting in adjustment to urban life in the North and a
means of crime prevention, some cognizance of this problem is
necessary. The establishment of a hotel, or boarding arrangements,
comparable to the needs would go a long way toward alleviating
a potential crime situation in the life of boys thus exploited.

Efforts at Housing. An effort to fulfill the need of such
housing facilities is in process of organization. Joseph D. Bryan
is sponsoring such a movement. He is attempting to interest
organizations and philanthropic-minded people of means to sup-
port the establishment of a boys' hotel which wilt care for several
hundred boys at a time. According to his plans, in connection
with this hotel a social service program is planned which will meet
the physical, recreational, educational, and all other needs of the boy.
The recreational program is to parallel that of the Y. M. C. A.,
the chief difference in the two organizations being that the
boys' hotel is designed for those of extremely limited economic
means or no means whatsoever. In addition, the psychological
aspect of the problem peculiar to the boy who feels that he does
not fit into the "Y" scheme is met in this arrangement. Attempts
are to be made to secure work that will fit the preparation of the
individual on the one hand, and his desire for certain types of
work on the other hand. In any event the boy is to have a home
and the resources of the entire hotel, paying only that amount
which his income allows.

The Problem of the Adult Offender

As serious as the situation is among juvenile and older boy
offenders, the problem of crime among Negro adults in Chicago
presents an even more dismal situation. The problem among adults
rests not only upon the percentage to the total number of arrests
and convictions but also upon the large share that Negroes con-
tribute to serious offenses. In addition, Negro females contribute
an exceedingly disproportionate percentage in crime among
females.

Extent of Crime Among Adults. There is need for great
caution in the use of statistics bearing on adult crime. The lack

152

NEGRO HOUSING

of uniform entries, methods of reporting crimes, the personnel,
are factors which illustrate the need of such caution. Neverthe-
less, the Police Department Annual Reports 12 offer perhaps the
best index to the extent of crime. Their reports on the more seri-
ous offenses of manslaughter and murder are perhaps even more
reliable than statistics on misdemeanors.

The percentage of Negroes arrested, classified by male and
female, to total arrests in Chicago is presented in Table III. In
general, the yearly percentage of increase 13 for both sexes has
been steadily on the up-grade. In only four years since 1914 have

Table III. Persons Arrested and Arraigned before the

Municipal and Criminal Courts of Chicago, by Five Year

Intervals and Per Cent Negroes.

Male

Female

Year

All
Persons

Negroes

Per Cent
Negroes

All
Persons

Negroes

Per Cent

Negroes

1915

99 954

6 676

6 7

14 671

2 832

19 3

1920

79 730

8 696

10 9

7 467

1 160

15 5

1925

246 719

26 000

10 5

17 775

5 155

29 0

1929*..

170 890

37,207

21 8

24 109

11 599

48 1

* Report for 1930 unpublished at the time of the preparation of this paper.

there been fluctuations showing a slight decrease from the preced-
ing year.

Negro males composed 6.7 per cent (6,676) of the total male
arrests (99,954) in 1915. Negro females, in the same year, com-
posed 19.3 per cent (2,832) of the total female arrests (14,671).
The yearly percentage of the total number, for both males and
females, has shown a steady increase, except the fluctuations in-
dicated above. By 1929 Negro males composed 21.8 per cent
(37,207) and Negro females 48.1 per cent (11,599) of the respec-
tive total male (170,890) and female (24,109) arrests. In the
course of the fifteen-year period the Negro population more than

"The figures pertaining to adult crime are, unless otherwise indicated,
from the Police Department Annual Reports, City of Chicago. The num-
bers include Boys' Court cases.

13 Percentages for each year, male and female, since 1914, have been com-
puted by the writer.

HOUSING CONDITIONS AND DELINQUENCY IN CHICAGO 153

doubled, while in the same period the percentage of increase in
arrests for males more than tripled, and almost tripled for the
females. The percentage of the latter was virtually half of the
total arrests.

By dividing total arrests into two groups, ( 1 ) arrests for mis-
demeanors, and (2) arrests for felonies, a clearer picture is ob-
tained of crime among Negroes.

The percentage of increase in arrests for misdemeanors is not
as great as for total arrests over a comparable period. The in-
crease and fluctuations in the early years of the period are almost
identical, whereas the percentage of increase in misdemeanors in
the later years of the period has not kept pace. The percentage of
convictions for misdemeanors, however, has been more constant,
both in steadiness and range of increase. The percentages of
arrests and convictions of Negro males in 1915 were identical. The
arrests for misdemeanors by 1929 had risen to 11.3 per cent, while
convictions had risen to 17.8 per cent. The percentage of arrests
and convictions of Negro females in the same period was higher
and more constant in the increase. In 1915 the Negro female
arrests for misdemeanors were 19.5 per cent of the total female
arrests for such charges, while convictions were 24.6 per cent of
the total. By 1929 Negro female arrests were 49.4 per cent of the
total, while convictions rose to 53.9 per cent of the total female
convictions.

Arrests and convictions for felonies are a better index to the
extent of crime than comparable data for misdemeanors. The
more serious nature of the crimes, the greater care in investiga-
tions and in recording data, are contributing factors in making
felonies a more reliable index to the extent of crime. The percent-
age of Negro male arrests for felonies to total arrests for felonies
has risen from 8.3 per cent in 1915 to 22.3 per cent in 1929. The
percentage of convictions has been even higher, rising from 10 per
cent in 19} 5 to 28.4 in 1929. While numerous popular reasons
are ascribed for the increase among Negroes such as ( 1 ) Negroes
are more readily arrested than whites, and (2) they cannot as
easily furnish bail or hire good lawyers, we are here interested
primarily in the extent of crime. Negro female arrests and con-
victions for felonies in general are much lower than for the males.
In 1915 Negro females composed 17.1 per cent of the total female
arrests for felonies as compared with 26.4 per cent of such arrests

154

NEGRO HOUSING

in 1929. The percentage of convictions in 1914 was 12.8 as
against 16.3 per cent in 1929.

Table IV. Ratio of Homicides by Negroes to Total Homi-
cides, Chicago, 1921-1928.

Year

Murder

Manslaughter

Felonious Homicides*

Total
Cases

Negro
Cases

Per Cent
Negroes

Total
Cases

Negro
Cases

Per Cent
Negroes

Total
Cases

Negro
Cases

Per Cent

Negroes

1921

137
138
136
180
199
189

20
31
38
53
50
50

14.6

22.5
27.9
29.4
25.1
26.5

69
92
97
127
122
111

17
40

53
76
75
66

24.6
43.5
54.6
59.8
61.5
59.5

301
367

118
155

39.2
42.2

1922
1923

1924
1925
1926

1927
1928

* Murders and manslaughters combined in annual reports.

The percentage of Negroes arrested for murder and man-
slaughter presents an apprehensive aspect of crime among Negroes.
The yearly percentage of Negroes charged with murder and man-
slaughter is presented in Table IV. Considered in terms of the
relative proportion to the total population and of felonious homi-
cides per 100,000 nativity population, the Negro ranks first. How-
ever, a mitigating circumstance for Negroes is the fact that the
identity of the Negro race is invariably made known, whereas "un-
known" cases would raise the percentage of other major groups.
Even so, unless all "unknown" cases belonged to one major group,
Negroes would still rank first.

Thus far materials have been presented to indicate the extent of
the problem of delinquency and crime. Attention will next be
focused on the geographical distribution of Negro delinquents in
Chicago.

In the light of previous studies 14 it is assumed that the distribu-
tion of delinquents may be used as an index to the character of
communities. There are, certainly, numerous other indices that
are available. Later, however, a canvass of the income levels of
families in which there are delinquents will form an important part

14 Shaw, Clifford R., et al., Delinquency Areas; Frazier, E. Franklin, The
Negro Family in Chicago; and Moses, Earl R., Juvenile Delinquency Among
Negroes in Chicago (now nearing completion).

HOUSING CONDITIONS AND DELINQUENCY IN CHICAGO 155

of the materials. The distribution of delinquents, then, takes on
added significance for our purpose.

II. The Geographical Distribution of Negro Delinquents

The growth, expansion and increased density of Negro juvenile
delinquency in Chicago follow closely kindred developments in the
Negro population increase. However interesting the historical
aspects of such a story may be, interest here centers about the
present situation. Discussion, then, is confined to the most recent
data available, eliminating reference to the historical aspects of such
increases.

The majority of the Negro population of Chicago reside in an
area popularly designated as the "Black Belt." Within the "Belt"
life varies markedly and changes are constantly in evidence.
Cognizance of the dynamic character of the "Belt" is, after all,
fundamental to an understanding of Negro life therein.

The Negro population is to a great extent concentrated within
a large area extending from Sixteenth Street on the north to
Sixty-ninth Street on the south, and from Wentworth Avenue
on the west to Cottage Grove Avenue on the east. The area out-
lined extends approximately seven miles in length and is from a
mile to a mile and a half in width. While the majority of the
Negro population live within this area others have invaded ad-
jacent territory. There are, in addition, satellite communities of
Negroes in other sections of the city. Foremost in these satellite
groups are the Negro population along Lake Street, those in the
old "Ghetto" along Maxwell Street, and the Morgan Park com-
munity.

How are Negro delinquents scattered in these communities?
What differences in community life does their distribution indicate?

Distribution of both Negro male and female delinquents for the
year 1929 shows a high degree of concentration in certain areas.
When compared with earlier series (not included) there is evidence
of a definite tendency to push farther southward. Population data,
by small areas, which would allow the computation of the ratio of
Negro delinquents to total delinquents by age groups are not avail-
able. However, all indications are that the present chief delin-
quency areas are from just above Thirty-ninth Street to Fifty-

156 NEGRO HOUSING

fifth Street, and in the Lake Street and Maxwell Street districts.15
Although the distribution of delinquents is used as an index to
the character of communities, caution is needed in generalizing
therefrom. This is especially true in its relationship to housing.
Indeed, areas characterized by the extreme of physical deteriora-
tion may not be the chief contributors to delinquency. The in-
vasion of business has driven the population farther out. So that,
instead, the areas that are the chief contributors to delinquency, as
well indeed to other pathological conditions, are likely to be those
areas in process of decided change. Here the processes of social
and individual disorganization and reorganization are extremely
active. Changes, therefore, are rapid.

The foregoing is presented merely to indicate the distribution of
Negro delinquents, showing the differences within areas. How
the extent of delinquency may be regarded as an index to the
character of a community will be made clearer in the material
embodied in Section V of this appendix, p. 183.

III. Economic Levels of Income among Negroes

Occupational types and economic levels of income offer a casual
index to the problems of economic and social maladjustment among
Negroes. All cases involving maladjustment, of course, may not
be traced directly to these sources. In individual instances the
problem of intelligent spending is a potent factor. Nevertheless,
as a racial group the Negro must face the problem of low income
as against high, if not exorbitant, rent.

Emphasis in this section will be placed on the economic income
of the "average" Negro and those at the lower economic level. A
second emphasis will be on the average income at different occupa-
tional levels. Passing attention only will be given to the highly
skilled worker and the professional individual. This position is
based on the assumption that the intelligence level required in such
occupational types, plus the social and economic resources available,
permit considerable freedom in determining, with deliberate choice,
the relationship of income to rent. The effort, then, is to see the

15 Lack of funds prevented the making of maps showing the actual home
location of each delinquent. In addition, the 1930 Federal Census data by
census tracts for Chicago are not yet available. The calculation of the per-
centage of delinquency for areas, on a basis of the same age and sex popula-
tion, is far more significant than mere numbers of delinquents found in each
area.

HOUSING CONDITIONS AND DELINQUENCY IN CHICAGO 157

average and lower economic levels among Negroes, with the con-
sequent standards of living possible at those levels.

Popular and technical discussions about the Negro worker have
centered recently in calling attention to the losses that Negroes
have sustained in various lines of employment. Such discussions
have reached almost the point of hysteria. A careful check of the
facts probably would show that the losses sustained have been
primarily at the lower occupational levels. The highly skilled and
professional types have probably made creditable, if not unprece-
dented, gains. The losses at the lower occupational levels have
been occasioned by the entrance of white workers into lines hereto-
fore considered too menial for their consideration. Economic
necessity has thus broken down the prejudiced attitudes that have
existed toward certain types of work. As competition becomes
keener further losses to Negro workers appear on the horizon.
How can the losses be offset ? What is being done along this line ?

Attitudes of white employers toward the employment of
Negroes range from those who report most unsatisfactorily about
Negro employees to those who are enthusiastic and who praise the
Negro worker in highest terms. A placement secretary of wide
experience in the placement of Negro workers in industry reports
the following reasons given for the nonemployment of Negroes : 16

1. Lack of skill ;

2. They (Negro workers) lack long experience;

3. Unreliable;

4. Opposed greatly by unions.

In other cases white employers simply state that they wish to
experiment with white workers, or that "white workers won't
work with Negroes" and give kindred explanations.

The types of situations mentioned above are in marked contrast
to the experience of other white employers. Numerous com-
munications testifying to the satisfactory services of Negroes could
be cited. The following excerpt from a communication may be
regarded as typical at least in idea and content, though exceeding
other documents in range of enthusiasm. E. C. Otis, Superin-
tendent, Beaver Products Company, writes:

"Many of the manufacturers have an idea that the only place Negro
labor can be used is as porters, housemen and janitors. From my experience

"Excerpt from a communication from Mrs. Martha Wilson-Edwards,
Placement Secretary, Chicago Urban League.

158 NEGRO HOUSING

with Negro labor I find that they can do anything a white man can do when
given the same consideration and the same opportunities. I have handled
all classes of men and find the Negro laborer, both skilled and unskilled,
will give a firm the same cooperation that the white man does. I find them
just as observing and just as quick to learn and they will work for a firm's
interest equally as well as a white man. There isn't a manufacturing plant,
barring none, with the proper supervision, that Negro labor cannot be used
in and the plants operated efficiently. Seventy-five per cent of my help is
colored labor. Competitors in our same lines visit this plant and tell me
that I have one of the best organizations they have ever seen. Everyone is
working in harmony, production is rolling along smoothly and there is no
confusion in any department. I can truthfully say that I haven't a Negro
worker who is not supporting me 100 per cent. When I was appointed
executive of this plant there was approximately 25 per cent Negro labor,
and the plant a losing proposition. Today, with 75 per cent Negro help it is
a paying proposition and one of the best plants in this division. I think this
is an answer to Negro labor. From the bottom of the list with 25 per cent
Negro help to the head of the list with 75 per cent Negro help." 1T

The foregoing communication attests the worth of the Negro
in industry. It reflects the ability of Negro labor when given the
opportunity, as well as convinces the white employer that produc-
tion need not slacken because of employing Negroes.

Nevertheless, however enthusiastic individual white employers
are of Negro labor, unless that enthusiasm is reflected in all situa-
tions with wages equal to those paid white workers, the Negro is
at a disadvantage. In short, enthusiasm minus economic equality
for the same piece and quality of work is exploitation. One with
considerable experience in placement work writes:

"In visiting power-machine factories I have found colored and white girls
working side by side performing the same operation but paid different wages.
While they are paid on piece work basis colored girls producing the same
quantity of work receive from $10 to $15 while white girls receive from
$18 to $20 .... In domestic service work, it has been our experience that
white maids usually get about $5 more per week than Negro maids."

Assuming equality of work, the best answer to both sides of the
questions is in the actual income levels of Negroes in different
occupational classifications.

Negro Female Workers

Data relating to income levels among Negro female workers
presented herein are based on the wages of 941 Negro females

17 Quoted from the annual report of H. N. Robinson, Employment Secre-
tary, Chicago Urban League.

HOUSING CONDITIONS AND DELINQUENCY IN CHICAGO 159

placed by the Industrial Department of the Chicago Urban League
during 1930.18 It is not enough merely to note the income levels
in occupational types. Many of the women are heads of homes,
either because of death, divorce, desertion, separation, or for other
reasons. In many cases there is added responsibility because of
children to be supported. Is there any wonder that these women
experience difficulty in making "both ends meet"? Indeed, that
would be impossible except for employing various means to that
end. Rooming in crowded quarters, the sharing of household ex-
penses by relatives or close friends, or taking a roomer into the
home are typical means used to meet expenses. In any case, the
necessity of employing such means adds to economic and social
maladjustment, inevitably affecting even the moral tone of in-
dividual lives and of the community.

"Bertha M is the mother of three children, Ellen, five ; Mary, three ;

and Harold, nine months. The mother was deserted before the youngest
child was born. The family rooms with a young married couple on Thirty-
first Street east of State Street. The mother does 'day work/ earning $3.50
a day. Work is irregular. When the mother is out, Ethel, the young mar-
ried friend, 'looks after the children.' Cooking privileges are allowed. The
home is situated on the third floor of a brick building; the ground floor is
used for a store, the two upper floors are used for residence purposes.
Physical deterioration characterizes the building and the community as well.
For the one room occupied, plus the privileges of the home, the mother pays
$5 a week. In addition, food and clothing for herself and the children must
be provided from her earnings."

Other cases could be cited. Case documents, given in their own
words, telling the plight of such families and their valiant efforts
to maintain bare sustenance, present the seriousness of such prob-
lems.19 However, in passing, it may be noted that the case quoted

18 Data supplied by Mrs. Martha Wilson-Edwards, Placement Secretary
of the Chicago Urban League. When work upon this report was started
it was anticipated that extensive data from the general Negro and white
population groups would be secured. Lack of funds and time prevented the
gathering of such data. However, the data presented may be safely regarded
as typical for the Negro group in the occupational classifications given.
Due to the comprehensive contacts of the organization and the recognized
quality of its work, the data are unquestionably authentic.

19 It was earlier anticipated that some such documents would be included
in this paper. The reason for the omission is explained in footnote 18. In
many cases involving appeals for aid, individuals are adept at presenting the
case in the most serious possible manner. However, experience and investi-
gation will reveal, usually, the truth of such claims.

160 NEGRO HOUSING

above is not unusual. Hundreds of cases applying to the Chicago
Urban League during the winter (1931) reveal the plight of these
lower level income persons. Although the winter was unusual in
the number of appeals, the seriousness of such cases is the rule
even in normal times.

Household Employees. General houseworkers number the
largest occupational classification placements (352) made in this
study. The average wage paid for such work is $10 a week. The
range of wages, however, is from $5 to $20 a week. The higher
limits of the range represent unusual wages. Such wages are
usually paid only by wealthy families who live in suburban North
Shore homes. These wages are inducements to secure reliable
and steady help, solving the difficulty of what would otherwise
involve a large turnover of household help. Nurse maids and sec-
ond maids usually receive $12 a week. Here again if higher wages
are paid it is an effort of suburban families to secure dependable
service. On the other hand, wages within the city often fall below
the average, dropping in some cases as low as $8 or $10 a week.
Some families take advantage of a stringent economic situation by
cutting wages. This practice, however, has not been extensively
used by established households having those with lengthy employ-
ment history in their service.20 Such families maintain their wage
scale. This is especially true of suburban families who do not
wish to jeopardize the services of steady and reliable help.

Cooks, on an average, receive a higher average wage than any
other type of household employee. Fifteen dollars a week is the
average wage paid them. In some instances the range of wages
extends as high as $25 a week. Day workers (the second largest
number of placements) usually receive $3.50 a day. Many of the
women engaged in this line of work have enough different homes
in which to work to keep at work daily. Some use such work only
two or three days a week as a means of augmenting the family
income. On the other hand, there is loss of considerable energy
by those who desire steady work but are unable to secure it.

From merely an economic standpoint the services of married

20 Mrs. Martha Wilson-Edwards, Placement Secretary, Chicago Urban
League, reports that most of the workers placed by her in established house-
holds have rendered satisfactory service and consequently have not suffered
loss of time from work nor wage reductions.

HOUSING CONDITIONS AND DELINQUENCY IN CHICAGO 161

couples in private families offer a chance for the prolific accumula-
tion of savings. The fact that the wages received are practically
clear from all except voluntary expenditures makes this possible.
On the other hand, this advantage is counteracted by the lack of
a congenial home atmosphere devoid of association with one's
work. Another disadvantage is in the long hours of service re-
quired. Most couples, however, are comfortably housed and often
receive unusual privileges as inducements to stay. Hence the per-
sonal tastes of the couple are often fulfilled in such service to the
complete satisfaction of their physical and mental desires.

Couples thus employed are not faced directly with the problem
of the physical aspects of housing — the requirement of rent, and
the physical and moral tone of the community. Nevertheless,
there is a backwash on the Negro community that probably affects
the community more than the individuals involved. On their "day
off" or for week-ends couples employed in private families usually
seek the society of their friends in the Negro community. They
thus become more or less periodic roomers. Some couples even
maintain a room for just such occasions. An arrangement on this
basis may be economically beneficial to the head of the home, but
usually it involves some degree of crowding.

The wages paid to couples employed in private families range
from $125 to $150 a month. The amount covers wages for the
services of both man and wife.

Laundry Workers and Hotel Maids. Placements of Negro
females in laundry work revolve usually about two types of opera-
tions: (1) hand ironers; and (2) mangle operators. Hand iron-
ers are employed in the small neighborhood hand laundries and for
special service, such as the ironing of shirts, in the large laundries.
Such operations are often on a piecework basis. Mangle operators
are almost exclusively employed in mass production work in the
large steam laundries. Those employed as hand ironers average
$15 a week income. This, however, involves speedy and intensive
work. The average income of the mangle operator is $12 a week.
She receives less than the hand ironer because the operation in-
volves primarily flat work done with machine operation. Wages
for either type of service do not vary much from the income levels
cited.

162 NEGRO HOUSING

Hotel maids receive about the same wages as laundry workers.
Variations in wages are usually reflected in the standards of the
hotel. That is, the higher class hotels pay slightly more and in turn
require a higher degree of personal neatness and efficiency. The
average wage scale for hotel maids ranges from $12to$15a week,
depending upon hotel standards.

Factory Workers. Wages paid to Negro females engaged in
various types of factory work range from $8 to $15 a week. The
wage paid depends upon the nature of the operation performed.
Individual cases of highly specialized work receive as high as $25
a week. These cases, however, are comparatively rare.

Power-machine operators usually work on a piecework rate.
This means intensive speed to maintain production. The prevail-
ing incomes from this type of work range from $8 to $10 a week.
It is for the same operation, the same quality of work and the same
output that an observer of wide experience noted that Negro
females receive less than white females.

The term "hand sewers" refers here to those employed in some
type of factory work involving a nonmachine operation. The
average wage paid for this type of work is $15 a week.

Those engaged in some form of automobile-parts manufacturing
receive an average wage of $13 a week. The packing industries,
while often not offering as dignified work, pay more. However,
even here the average is sometimes lower. The range of wages
in the packing industry runs from $12 to $15 a week.

Trained Workers. The classification of occupational types
and operations could be continued. It is enough, however, to in-
dicate the prevailing wages received. The wages of Negro females
rarely cover a wide range in such a variety of occupational groups
as tie, lamp-shade and pillow makers ; or salesladies and stock-girls ;
or soda dispensers and counter-girls. Nevertheless, there is one
group to which this does not apply. The income of stenographers
and office workers usually ranges from $15 to $25 a week. The
average is $20 a week.

The character of the work and the training involved, inevitably
call for higher compensation than the work of unskilled and semi-
skilled work. Even so, the average income for the Negro female
stenographer or clerical help is less than that generally paid white

HOUSING CONDITIONS AND DELINQUENCY IN CHICAGO 163

workers. Loop 21 workers in these lines usually receive $20 a week
and upwards. Many receive $25 to $35 a week.22 The earnings
of Negro female workers, however, approximate the average in-
come of white workers employed in small outlying business estab-
lishments. In addition, the same rate of pay is received for the
same type of work by those employed in civic or philanthropic
work.

In general, Negro female workers receive less income than
white female workers for the same type and quality of work. This
is significantly true for occupational work as nurses or second
maids, power-machine operators, salesladies, clerical and steno-
graphic work. Placements made by the Chicago Urban League
(1930) of Negro female workers is presented in Table V, show-
ing average wage, wage range, and the average and range among
white female workers.

Negro Male Workers

The Negro male worker, as in the case of the Negro female
worker, usually receives less pay for the same type and quality of
work than do white workers. It is true that there are notable ex-
ceptions to this statement. The exceptions, however, are primarily
to be found in the higher levels of income involving higher occupa-
tional levels.

Not only does the Negro male face a difference in wage but he
faces as well problems of lay-offs, of not being hired until white
workers are absorbed in industry, and kindred difficulties. These
aspects of Negro labor problems are common knowledge and are
reflected in the stories of hundreds of workers. A terse but pointed
summary of some situations that Negro workers face is contained
in the following :

"The introduction of new labor-saving machinery has been another factor
to prove detrimental to the Negro. With increased unemployment among
white people there has been a sentiment to appeal to the sentimentality of
employers, so that in some places Negroes have been replaced by white
workers . . . Organized labor continued to add to the burden of Negro
workers, not only in some locals denying admission, but even when ad-

21 The Loop is the central business district of Chicago.

22 This statement is based on an inquiry among a limited number of white
workers in the Loop.

164

NEGRO HOUSING

Table V. Placements Made by the Chicago Urban League
(1930) of Negro Female Workers *

Negr

D Females

White

Females

Specific
Occupational
Classification

Number
Placed

Average
Wage

Week

Range
of
Weekly
Wages

Average
Wage
per
Week

Range
of
Weekly
Wages

General Housework . .
Nurse Maid
Second Maid

352
10
15

$10
12
12

$5 to $20

$15
18
18

$15 to $25
18 to 20
f

Cook . .

15 to 25

Day Work

150

3.50

Hand Ironers
Mangle Operators
Power-machine Oper-
ator**

50
16

(day)
12

! '

8 to 10

10 to 15

Hand Sewing

Hotel Maid
Auto-parts Manu-
facturing

§
13

12 to 15

13.45 1[

Packing Industry ....
Saleslady

15
69

12 to 15
I

19.10H

Stock Girl

Soda Dispenser
Counter Girl (Sand-
wich)

10
12

Waitress. .

5 to 7

Tie Maker

Pillow Maker
Lamp-shade Maker**
Stenographer- Office
Work

8 to 10

15 to 25

§
§

20 to 35

Date and Nut Fac-
tory Work

8 to 10

Couples in Private
Family

125tol50mo

TOTAL

941

All Industries II $17 . 53

All Manufacturing Industries^ 15.51

Miscellaneous Manufacturing *| 12 . 00

Nonmanufacturing Industries 19 . 82

Hotels and Restaurants If 14 . 46

Laundries If 14 . 67

* Data furnished by Mrs. Martha Wilson-Edwards, Placement Secretary,
Chicago Urban League. J No difference in wages.

t No significant difference from the average. § Data not available.

If Data secured from advance release of Illinois Department of Labor,
Bureau of Labor Statistics, average weekly earnings as of June, 1931.

|| Predominantly Negro workers; i.e., in large wholesale establishments.

** Piecework rate.

HOUSING CONDITIONS AND DELINQUENCY IN CHICAGO 165

mitting them their opportunities were often blocked through underground
methods of prejudice and intimidation."23

Appeals to the sentiment of the employer to replace the Negro
worker with one that is white have been noted especially within
the past two years. In cities and towns in the South it is reported
that department store heads have even been threatened with a boy-
cott if Negro workers were not replaced by whites.24

Even as members of unions Negro workers are not assured of
equal chances of employment nor of equal wages. It is unques-
tionably true that the attitude and practices of unions vary toward
the Negro worker. Some use direct, others subtle means to deny
him membership. In some cases where membership is granted,
similar measures determine the amount of work Negro members
secure. The whole story of unionism in relation to the Negro has
been too well canvassed in books and in the Negro press to bear
repetition here. However, before passing on, reference will be
made to the situation in Chicago. In this connection A. C. Thayer
writes :

"Negro workers suffer from discrimination in their wage rates in the City
of Chicago from two angles. First, the angle of the unions. In most of the
well-paid jobs under union domination Negro wage earners seldom reap
the reward of good wages because of the fact that they are few in number
in trade unions. There are some unions which refuse to accept Negroes into
their group. In all unions where Negroes are accepted, such as the brick-
layers, the plasterers and the hod-carriers, they receive equal wages. In
the electricians union, however, a separate scale of wages has been in vogue
and Negroes are not permitted on big jobs down town but rather do repair
work mostly, which very often is confined to the territory in which they
live in large numbers. Secondly, discrimination has been found in wages
where Negroes and whites do the same work, based largely on color. This
is especially true of women." K

Common Labor. In periods of industrial activity common
labor is a prolific source of employment for Negroes. The wages
paid depend upon the extent of activity and consequently upon de-
mand and supply. Even so, under ordinary or even near-normal
circumstances the range of wages does not show extreme differ-

23 Quoted from the annual report of H. N. Robinson, Employment Secre-
tary, Chicago Urban League.

24 Two such cases were reported to the writer in New Orleans. In one case
some concessions were made. In the other case the manager refused to
make any concessions. The latter store has a large Negro patronage.

25 Communication from A. C. Thayer, Director, Department of Industrial
Relations, Chicago Urban League.

166 NEGRO HOUSING

ences. The average wage paid for common labor is 45 cents an
hour, or slightly more than $3.50 a day. Overtime or the peculiari-
ties of certain jobs may increase this income. An exception to
this average income may be found in common labor serving union
workers on jobs dominated by unions. The hourly wage rate in
such circumstances may range anywhere from 65 cents to a maxi-
mum of $1 an hour. Such cases, however, are not plentiful enough
to cause any unusual degree of enthusiasm.

Packing Plant Workers. The packing industry in Chicago
is another source productive of jobs for Negro workers. Work
in the packing plants may in general be classed as common labor,
although this classification depends upon one's definition of com-
mon labor, semi-skilled and skilled work. Within the plant some
work classed as semi-skilled would hardly stand the test of rigid
classification. In any event the rate paid does not exhibit signifi-
cant difference. The average wage paid in the "stock yards" is
42^2 cents an hour.26 In some cases 45 cents is the hourly wage.
The work shift is on an eight-hour basis.

Skilled Factory Workers. Negroes engaged in skilled work
in factories receive an average of 75 cents an hour. Cognizance,
however, must be taken of varying conditions in factories. These
conditions vary from policies within the organization to competi-
tion between factories engaged in the same line of production. The
range, then, for skilled work extends from 60 cents to 85 cents an
hour. It is significant to note that the average wage paid to white
skilled workers in factories is 90 cents an hour — an average that
exceeds the highest range paid to Negro workers. On the other
hand it is to be noted that there are factories where no differences
are made, on a basis of color, in the hourly wage rate.

Holders usually work on a piecework rate basis. The average
wage is $35 a week. The actual earnings of the individual molder
depend upon the skill, precision, speed and sustained output that
he is able to maintain. Individual cases are known that earn con-
siderably more than the average quoted. These cases are, however,
by no means typical of the group.

Trained Garage Mechanics. Trained and experienced ga-
rage mechanics usually earn $30 a week. This is considerably lower

The "stock yards" are Chicago's noted packing industry center.

HOUSING CONDITIONS AND DELINQUENCY IN CHICAGO 167

than the $45 average earned by the white mechanic, comparably
trained and experienced. The disparity in earnings is explained
largely by the quality of openings available to Negro mechanics.
White mechanics secure work in garages within or bordering on
the Loop. The prices charged for work here are higher than in
outlying districts. The North Shore business of expensive car
maintenance is an added factor. The Negro mechanic, on the
other hand, must primarily seek work in garages on the South
Side. The difference in volume of work accounts in part for lower
wage scales. Some of the South Side garages meet the problem
of labor by offering a piecework rate. The low rate, plus lack of
volume of business, reflects itself in still lower wage incomes. The
garage mechanic employed on this basis usually has a weekly in-
come range of from $20 to $25.

Janitors. Any discussion of janitors must take into considera-
tion union versus nonunion men and the janitor in charge of large
buildings as against those who care for a series of small dwellings.
The average weekly wage of $20 quoted in Table VI refers to the
latter group. Union janitors in charge of large buildings often
earn $200 per month and upwards, depending upon the building
location, the type of building, and the responsibility involved.
Some Negro janitors fall within this group. But there is a large
area where the individual must depend on securing the care of a
series of one, two or more apartment dwellings. Ordinarily the
wage rate is $10 an apartment per month. The securing of apart-
ments is a potent factor relating to income. In addition, the num-
ber of apartments that one may take responsibility for, yet render
satisfactory service, creates a definite limitation.

Restaurant Workers. The range of wages paid for restau-
rant work (kitchen help) revolves about the quality of the restau-
rant, the volume of business, and the wages paid by chain restau-
rants. The average paid in this line of work is $12 a week; $15
is usually the maximum. The range is from $10 to $14 a week.
This range includes prevailing prices paid by chain restaurants,
the moderate class restaurant, and the exclusive class restaurant.
Outside of this range comes the extremely cheap class of restau-
rant found in the homeless man area or the moderate class restau-
rant of the business and residential areas. The wages paid in the

168 NEGRO HOUSING

first of the latter classes are often as low as $7 or $8 a week;
those in the latter class are somewhat higher.

Hotel Waiters. It is especially difficult to estimate the aver-
age income of hotel waiters. They rely primarily upon tips as their
source of income. This is augmented by a low-range monthly
wage. One of Chicago's noted places pays no wage whatsoever.
On the other hand one of its large hotels pays $40 a month. In
places where wages are paid, they rarely exceed this amount. An
additional aspect of this type of hotel employment, however, should
be noted. In some instances whites have replaced Negro help. In
other cases white girls have replaced Negro men. Whenever such
changes are made the employer attributes it to a desire "to ex-
periment." Except in the cases of girls, no change in the wage
rate is made ; at least, if so, it is not made public.

Housemen. The duties of a houseman are by no means cer-
tain. They vary from household to household. Sometimes the
houseman acts as butler, yardman and handyman; in other cases
he is a combination butler and chauffeur. Still other combinations
exist. In any event the average 'wage is the same. The ability of
the individual to ingratiate himself into the esteem of his employer
may aid him in earning above the average. This average, for
Negroes, is $20 a week. The white houseman averages $25 a
week.

Chauffeurs. The weekly wage of the chauffeur depends upon
whether or not he is merely expected to drive or to keep up re-
pairs on the car as well. Increasingly the latter is expected. The
average wage paid to the Negro chauffeur for this type of service
is $35 a week, which is in contrast to the $45 average paid to the
white chauffeur.

The foregoing discussion of average incomes among Negro
workers is not intended as being exhaustive. The desire has been,
primarily, to present the average wage and wage range involved
among certain classes of work in Chicago where large numbers of
Negro workers are employed. Table VI presents these data with
some additional occupational classifications included. It is espe-
cially to be noted that the classifications "unskilled," "semi-skilled,"
and "skilled" worker have been intentionally omitted. Occupational
definition, based on such classification, is not identical in all in-

HOUSING CONDITIONS AND DELINQUENCY IN CHICAGO 169

Table VI. Average Weekly Wages and Range of Wages for

Specific Occupational Classifications, Negro Male

Workers in Chicago.

Specific
Occupational
Classification

Negro Males

White Males

Average
Wage

Week

Range of
Wages

Average
Wage

Week

Range of
Wages

Common Labor

$21.60
20.40
36.00
35.00
30.00

18.00
16.00
20.00
18.00
21.00

12.00
15.00
16.00
16.00
20.00
35.00
20.00

$28.80-$40.80
27.50- 38.00
20.00- 25.00(1

*
t

10.00- 25.00

10.00- 14.00

12.00- 20.00

*
18.00- 25.00

$27.67J
43.20

45.00

31.39J-tt
21.84t-tt
14.00

25.00
45.00
t

$40.00-

;
;

-$50.00

;

•

Packing Industry
Skilled Factory Work§

M older s^f

Garage Mechanic

Garage (mechanic)
Assistant

Car Washer
Janitors**

Porters

Laundry Work

Restaurant Work:. . . .
Kitchen Help ....

Soda Dispenser ....

Theater Usher

Delivery Truck Work .
Houseman

Chauffeur

Watchman

All Industries* $28.41

All Manufacturing Industries J 26 . 52

Miscellaneous Manufacturing j 25 . 17

Nonmanufacturing Industries* 32 . 85

* No significant difference from the average.

t Data not available.

t Data secured from advance release of Illinois Department of Labor, Bu-
reau of Labor Statistics, average weekly earnings as of June, 1931.

§ No difference in wages (whites and Negroes) in some factories.

*j[ Piecework.

|| When engaged on piecework.

** Refers to janitors who take care of small apartment buildings and dwell-
ings.

ft Data not exactly comparable.

dustries, nor in different plants within the same industry. It was,
therefore, felt that a clearer picture of income levels might be
presented by taking specific occupational classifications. In addi-
tion, such classifications permitted consideration of smaller units
and for variations within units.

170 NEGRO HOUSING

By way of summary it may be noted that the vast majority of
Negro male workers in Chicago receive a weekly wage ranging
from $20 to $22.50. During periods of unusual industrial activity
this range is somewhat higher. Negro female workers average
approximately $10 a week. These averages, however, are pre-
sented advisedly. One must bear in mind wide differences in
different occupational levels.

Parental Income and Delinquency

It is generally assumed that the income level in families where
there are- delinquents has a direct relationship to the delinquency
of the child. Whether or not this assumption is accepted as valid
is largely a matter of definition. Certainly there are families where
the economic situation is primarily involved in the child's delin-
quency. On the other hand, there are instances where the income
is virtually identical, yet the child is not delinquent. Can these two
situations be reconciled with the assumption set forth above? The
explanation of the relations of income to delinquency is not found
merely in this direct relationship. The occupational level of the
parents and the area of the city in which the family lives are two
potent factors. Other factors, of course, could be enumerated.

An analysis of the occupational classifications of the parents of
delinquents shows most of them in the lower income occupational
levels.27 Indeed, the occupational classifications parallel those
quoted in Tables V and VI above. "Common labor" for the men
and "domestic service" work for women (except the "housewife")
are the two occupational levels, respectively for male and female,
that exceed all others.28 Less than one-half of 1 per cent of the

"Based on an analysis of family backgrounds of juvenile delinquents
appearing before the Cook County Juvenile Court, Chicago, series of 1929.

28 Of 403 Negro male delinquents in 1929, the parental occupational classifi-
cation in the two groups given above was 39.1 per cent and 29.8 per cent,
respectively. The percentages in both cases would be greater if the "occupa-
tion unknown" classification were omitted from the calculations. Work on
almost 600 additional cases shows this sample as typical. A canvass of
nearly 2,000 white delinquents reveals a considerable number of fathers as
engaged in "common labor." More of the mothers, than among Negroes,
are classed as "housewife." This is offset somewhat by a larger percentage
of the children being gainfully employed.

HOUSING CONDITIONS AND DELINQUENCY IN CHICAGO 171

fathers of delinquent Negro boys (1929) fall into a professional
classification.29

It has just been indicated that the parents of Negro delinquents
are primarily in occupational levels of low status. Income levels,
then, likewise are low. An analysis of the income levels of these
parents reveals their average income as being virtually the same as
presented for the general group of Negro male and female work-
ers.30 The virtually parallel occupational work accounts for this.
Whether or not these low levels of income entirely account for
delinquency is doubtful. It must be borne in mind that the previ-
ous life of the parents, the degree of urbanization they have under-
gone, and their own wishes must be taken into account. In addi-
tion, in a high percentage of cases, both the fathers and mothers
of the delinquents were employed outside the home. Yet, so too,
were many of the men and women from the general population.31

Efforts to Increase Openings and Efficiency

The Chicago Urban League has been the pioneer in seeking to
obtain new openings in work available to Negroes. Likewise has
it pioneered in an effort for increased efficiency among Negro
workers. Its efforts, within the past two years, have been aug-
mented by a newspaper campaign in behalf of Negro workers.32

29 Including not only physicians, dentists, etc., but also workers in clerical,
civic or governmental positions, and the like.

30 The median wage for the fathers of Negro delinquents was $28 ; the
median for the mothers was $13.57. Quotations are based on the 1929 Negro
cases before the Cook County Juvenile Court. While the income levels
presented are higher than present (1931) average incomes for these occupa-
tional types, they are comparable to average incomes at these occupational
levels in 1929.

31 In most cases the parents of the delinquents undoubtedly live in areas
characterized by physical deterioration, vice, crime, and delinquency because
of low-income levels and the seeking of cheap rent. Yet there are known
cases where they seek to maintain the simple existence that characterized
their life in the South. This situation is likewise reflected in the home life
of some of the men employed in the stock yards, whose wives also work out-
side the home. Care must, therefore, be exercised in drawing conclusions
about delinquency merely on a basis of low-income levels and the fact that
both parents work outside the home. We do not know, for example, how
many such cases there are where delinquency does not exist ; nor do we know
in how many such families there are or are not children.

32 The campaign sponsored by the Chicago Whip. This campaign is
characterized by the slogan Don't Spend Your Money Where You ^Cannot
Work. The effort has centered on forcing employment of Negroes in retail
establishments located in the Negro area and primarily patronized by
Negroes.

172 NEGRO HOUSING

In addition to the free employment service offered by the Urban
League a considerable portion of the Industrial Department's ef-
fort is centered in attempts at the placement of Negroes in lines
of work and in places that have heretofore not been open to them.
The results along this line were negligible during the past year.
This is attributed to the economic depression. However, through
its efforts, in 1929 twenty-eight such openings 33 were made
available to Negro workers. To these may be added the openings
made available, directly or indirectly, through the Chicago Whip
campaign.

Other efforts of the Urban League in connection with this pro-
gram are:

1. Through conferences or talks to impress upon those already employed,
their responsibility to their employer, both as a means of their own security
and its relationship to other possible openings ;

2. Attempts to place Negro workers in apprenticeship capacities, as a
means of acquiring skill; and

3. The establishment of training courses for certain lines of work. The
class in salesmanship is an example of this effort.

IV. Rent Levels Among Negroes in Chicago

In the preceding section an attempt was made to canvass pre-
vailing wage incomes for Negroes in certain occupational classi-
fications. It was indicated that in these occupational classifica-
tions men usually earn from $20 to $22.50 a week. The average
earned by Negro females is $10 a week, when higher-level occu-
pational classifications are excluded. This section will be de-
voted to a canvass of the prevailing scale of rents operating among
Negroes in Chicago. This will offer an opportunity of can-
vassing the relation of income to rent, differences in the amount
of rent, and differences in the physical condition of the houses
rented by Negroes.

The majority of the Negroes engaged in the occupational classi-
fications noted in the preceding section live between Sixteenth
Street on the north and Fifty-fifth Street on the south. Went-
worth Avenue and the Lake, except south of Thirty-ninth Street,

Refers to organizations and not number of persons placed.

HOUSING CONDITIONS AND DELINQUENCY IN CHICAGO 173

form the western and eastern boundary limits respectively. South
of Thirty-ninth Street, Cottage Grove Avenue forms the eastern
boundary line. This selection and segregation of Negroes is par-
ticularly true of certain occupational classifications, notably that
of stock yards work for the men and domestic service, day work,
power-machine operation and stock yards work for the women.
The majority of the female workers placed by the Chicago Urban
League live between Thirty-first and Forty-eighth' Streets, with
some overlapping as far south as Fifty-fifth Street. In any of
the occupational classifications presented, some Negroes live be-
yond the southern boundary limits outlined. However, the whole
tone of Negro community life farther south is different. It is in
the southern end of the "Black Belt" that Frazier found the
processes of selection and segregation within the Negro group at
the point of highest development.34 As indicated earlier, our in-
terest does not center in this group who presumably are able to
choose the places in which they live with considerably more delib-
eration than the lower-level income group. Primary considera-
tion, then, will be devoted to those areas in which live the occu-
pational groups heretofore canvassed.

While this section is primarily concerned with the prevailing
scale of rent paid by Negroes, consideration of rent alone is not
enough. It must be remembered that in many instances the fe-
male of the household augments the family income by working
outside of the home. In other instances women, for various rea-
sons, are the heads of homes and, with this responsibility, must
work. Again, the practice of taking in roomers as an aid to meet
the rent paid is characteristic of the Negro area.35

34 Frazier, E. Franklin, The Negro Family in Chicago, Chicago, Univer-
sity of Chicago Press, 1932. In his study Mr. Frazier found that it was in
the southern section of that vast stretch known as the "Black Belt" that
Negro life reached its highest degree of community organization. Here live
the majority of the professional group, the percentage of home ownership
is higher, delinquency is less rampant, charity cases are fewer, desertion and
divorce rates are lower, and the number of persons and families per house-
hold less. Other indices as well were used in Frazier's thorough study.

35 In this connection Charles W. Newcomb, University of Chicago, observes
that Negroes fill up the large houses with roomers, whereas the foreign-
born element fills up the houses with children. The economic advantages,
then, in such cases are in favor of the Negro. The effects on morals and
health, however, are probably as serious if not, indeed, worse.

174 NEGRO HOUSING

Scale of Rents for Different Areas 36

There are marked differences in the scale of rents paid by
Negroes in Chicago. Even within comparatively small areas these
differences are decided. Several factors contribute to make this
the case. The physical deterioration of a particular house, physical
deterioration of the neighborhood, and lack of steam heat operate
to make low rent. On the other hand a house in similar condition
and in a similar neighborhood may rent at a comparatively high
level. The occupancy of such a dwelling on the part of vice
interests — bootleggers, prostitutes, policy wheels, etc., may create
a condition where high rents are the rule. The immunity from
the law that these interests are able to secure in such neighbor-
hoods often makes rents soar where otherwise there would be
minimum rent levels.

Twelfth to Thirty-ninth Streets, West of State Street.
The strip of area west of State Street across the railroad tracks
to Wentworth Avenue — a strip four blocks in width — and running
from Twelfth Street on the north to Thirty-ninth Street on the
south is an area characterized by the extreme of physical deteriora-
tion. Families of extremely low economic level, cheap bootleg
"joints," and prostitutes, present a medley of life of the lower
strata. Practically all houses in this area are stove-heated. In
most cases the type of dwelling is what may be described as the
half-basement and upper-floor dwelling; i.e., a high basement is
used as an apartment, and high steps lead to what ordinarily is the
first floor, this too, being an apartment. The buildings are of
frame construction and usually have four or five rooms to the
house. The average rent paid in this area is $25 a month. The
more dilapidated places rent for $20 a month and in extreme cases
scale somewhat downward. The better quality of house rents from
$30 to $32.50 a flat per month.

In this area the number per family ranges from two to ten per-
sons. In the upper limits of the area, children are fewer than in

38 Data on rents embodied in this section were supplied from the following
sources : ( 1 ) From the records of the Employment Secretary of the Chi-
cago Urban League, including information gathered from personal investiga-
tions in the homes of workers placed by the organization ; (2) data pertaining
to family backgrounds of juvenile delinquents, series of 1929, secured from
Juvenile Court records; and (3) reports of rent investigations from certain
district offices of the United Charities of Chicago.

HOUSING CONDITIONS AND DELINQUENCY IN CHICAGO 175

cases farther south. Beginning approximately at Thirty-first
Street and going south to Thirty-ninth Street there are usually
five persons to a family.

The lower limits of this area, from Thirty-third to Thirty-ninth
Streets, have somewhat better houses than do the upper limits.
There are a few brick places. The extremes of physical deteriora-
tion are not so much in evidence as in some of the frame houses.
Even of the latter group, some show recent painting and carpenter
replacement work. Somewhat higher rents are paid here than
farther north. Rentals here usually average in the upper limits of
the scale previously indicated.

Twelfth to Thirty-ninth Streets, East of State Street.
East of State Street rents paid are somewhat higher than those
in the area just discussed. Though deteriorated, houses are some-
what better. Although there are many frame dwellings, brick and
stone-front houses are the rule. Business has invaded the area
at the upper end. Consequently, physical deterioration is greater
than farther south. Although land values are high, incomes from
rent are lower than elsewhere in the area. As far south as
Twenty-sixth Street there are many stove-heated flats where rents
average $37.50 a month. Even though houses are dilapidated,
they are in demand because of accessibility to lines of transporta-
tion or proximity to work, and rents are cheaper than farther
south.

On State Street between Twenty-sixth and Thirty-third Streets,
second-floor apartments over retail stores rent for from $25 to
$30 a month. Rear apartments in these flats rent somewhat
cheaper. In contrast to these rentals, within the same north and
south boundary limits but on South Parkway, rentals average $40
a month. The houses here attest the decaying characteristics of
the area but rentals maintain a comparatively high level because
of being located on the boulevard.

From Thirty-first to Thirty-ninth Street along State Street,
practically all of the places are stove-heated apartments and are
located over retail stores. Within this area $40 per month is the
average rent paid. Frame dwellings on parallel and cross streets
maintain virtually the same average rent. On Wabash Avenue,
occasionally one finds a somewhat lower rent for stove-heated
places. Even in such cases, however, rents rarely are under $37.50
a month. On Wabash Avenue south of Thirty-third Street there

176 NEGRO HOUSING

are many brick and stone steam-heated apartments. Depending
upon location and the type of place, rents range from $37.50 to
$45 per month. The three prevailing prices paid for rent are
$37.50, $40 and $45, the last being primarily for stone apart-
ment buildings that are steam-heated.

Going over one block east, on Michigan Avenue, and south
from Thirty-third to Thirty-ninth Street, rentals are somewhat
higher than on Wabash Avenue. Practically all of the places here
are stone buildings with steam heat. This area was at one time
an aristocratic section of the South Side. Although the houses are
large, Negro families are able to pay high rents either because
both husband and wife are working outside the home, or because
they take in roomers. In some instances both methods are used.
The prevailing rents paid here range from $50 upwards, depend-
ing upon the size of the house or apartment. What is true of
Michigan Avenue is to a considerable extent characteristic of
housing conditions and rents paid on South Parkway between
Thirty-third and Thirty-ninth Streets.

On either side of South Parkway conditions change remark-
ably. On Prairie, Calumet, Giles, Indiana and other streets many
of the places are virtually as extreme in physical deterioration as
those places west of State Street. Here and there, however, are
the homes of those who have bought years ago and who still at-
tempt to maintain the physical attractiveness of their homes. A
block here and there shows evidence of an attempt to maintain a
high community standard. The average rent paid in this area is
$40 a month. On South Parkway, Vernon and Rhodes Streets
live a group who are steadily employed at the stock yards. Of
this group, an investigator 37 states,

"Many of the families living in this area receive regular pay as a result
of steady work in the stock yards, and as a result are able to pay $50 per
month or more. Even for stove-heated places around Thirty-third Street,
off of South Parkway, $35 a month is paid for rent."

Thirty-ninth to Forty-seventh Streets. Rentals west of
State Street, as was indicated for areas farther north, show a
difference from those east of State. The physical condition of
the houses, however, is considerably better than that of houses

7 Based on home investigations in the area by H. N. Robinson, Employ-
ment Secretary,, Chicago Urban League.

HOUSING CONDITIONS AND DELINQUENCY IN CHICAGO 177

farther north. Stove-heated houses usually rent for from $37.50
a month to $40 a month. Steam-heated places in the area rent for
as much as $55 to $57.50 a month. In this area, as was indicated
for a specific area on South Parkway, live many of the men work-
ing in the stock yards. The wives of many of these men work
outside the home. Consequently they are able to pay regularly
and to pay comparatively high rental prices. Although the physi-
cal condition of many of the places in the area could show con-
siderable improvement, an investigator reports a quality of fur-
nishings in the home which is not consonant with outside appear-
ances. Rentals along State Street over retail stores average ap-
proximately the same as for places west of State. East of State
Street there are several large business concerns located in the area.
Except in cases of extreme physical deterioration located close to
these establishments, rentals are virtually the same as those quoted
earlier.

Moving on east one finds higher rents than those farther west.
On Michigan Avenue and South Parkway one again finds stone
and brick, steam-heated apartments in excellent state of repair
which rent for $60 a month and upwards. On Prairie Avenue,
even as far south as Fifty-eighth Street, there are stone-front flats
with rentals ranging from $65 to $85 a month, with an average
rental of $70 a month. Here the rooms are large and airy. The
houses in this area were at one time occupied by well-to-do white
families.

On Calumet Avenue between Forty-third and Forty-ninth
Streets is an area that may be termed a red-light district. One
walking along the street either day or night may be accosted by
women and invited into houses of prostitution. Buffet flats are in
considerable evidence. As one usually finds the rentals paid by
vice interests scale higher than those for the normal, conventional
population, rents in this particular area usually range from $75
to $80 a month.

Farther east than the area just canvassed, one finds a con-
siderable variation in rent. On north and south streets one finds
stove-heated flats for which the average monthly rent is $40. On
the other hand, on most of the cross streets are large brick or
stone flats for which the monthly rentals range from $55 to $65.
On Fifty-first Street, east of South Parkway and facing the upper
limits of Washington Park, are a series of brick apartment build-

178 NEGRO HOUSING

ings with high English basements. The average rental in this area
is $70 a month.

South of Fifty-first Street. South of Fifty-first Street there
is not as much variation in the amount of rent paid as in areas
thus far canvassed. This is due primarily to the quality of the
apartments. Most of the places south of Fifty-first Street are
steam-heated flats and for the most part are in excellent physical
condition. Five- and six-room apartments are characteristic of
the area. Although rents in some cases range as high as $70 or
more a month, the prices paid for steam-heated apartments usually
range from $55 to $65 a month. There are, of course, considera-
ble variations within this range as to the price paid for particular
flats, depending upon location, number of rooms and other fac-
tors. The smaller places in the area — those of four rooms — rent
for $50 and $55 a month. In some cases rentals for apartments
of this size are as low as $45.

In West Woodlawn, a community farther south (south of Sixty-
third Street, South Parkway to Cottage Grove Avenue), there are
both single- family dwellings and flats in the area. The rentals
here, however, do not show wide variation from those somewhat
farther north. The rents paid are virtually the same for places
of the same size as in the area just canvassed. In recent months,
due to the economic depression, rents here have been scaled some-
what lower. In contrast to the range of $60 to $75 heretofore
paid, rents have been scaled downward to a level from $47.50 to
$65. Landlords have made this concession in an attempt to keep
their places rented permanently. It must be remembered, how-
ever, that this area is characterized by a rather high degree of
home ownership. Here, the selection and segregation of the popu-
lation show a high degree of development. This likewise is true
to a lesser extent of the entire area south of Fifty-first Street.
Mention was made earlier of this aspect of the area and of Fra-
zier's findings pertaining to it.38

88 For an adequate discussion of the physical aspects of housing in the areas
canvassed above see The Chicago Commission on Race Relations, The Negro
in Chicago, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1922, Chapter on "The
Negro Housing Problem." Here houses and apartment buildings are classi-
fied, ranging from A to D types. It is especially to be noted that no such
attempt has been made herein. Interest here centers primarily on prevailing
rents paid within certain areas. It has, therefore, merely been noted whether
or not the extreme of physical deterioration or lack of it characterizes the
area.

HOUSING CONDITIONS AND DELINQUENCY IN CHICAGO 179

Kitchenette Apartments

Any discussion of rentals would be incomplete if some consid-
eration were not devoted to the kitchenette apartments. The
tendency to break up large apartments into kitchenette apartments
has been especially marked in the Negro area within the past two
years. In some blocks this tendency is especially pronounced. In-
deed, there are blocks where, almost without exception, every flat
has been transformed into kitchenette apartments. Poor sanita-
tion arising out of the kitchenette apartment is an evil in housing
that the Negro population must face. Usually kitchenette apart-
ments in the Negro area are not designed primarily for that use.
For the most part they are merely makeshift, small apartments
designed to increase the income of the landlord on the one hand
and to provide what presumably are cheaper rents for Negroes
on the other hand. The average price paid for such places, how-
ever, is really considerably more exorbitant than is usually as-
sumed. This is especially true when one considers the compara-
tive lack of privacy to be found in kitchenette apartments.

In a recent survey of kitchenette apartments, Miss Tenon sg
found wide variations in the physical standards of kitchenette
apartments and in the amount of rent paid by whites and Negroes.
A block of kitchenette apartments on South Parkway may be re-
garded as an excellent sample — if, indeed, not typical — of this
type of dwelling for Negroes. Flats have been cut up into small
apartments. Bath and toilet facilities are used in common on each
floor. Beaver-board partitions are often used to create apart-
ments. In most instances a clothes closet has been transformed
into a kitchen, while a former parlor or living-room forms the
sleeping and living quarters. In contrast to the physical aspects of
kitchenette apartments in the Negro neighborhoods, those on
Drexel Boulevard offer an excellent sample of such apartments
among whites. While kitchenette apartments occupied by whites
are not always so designed for that use prior to construction,
nevertheless the physical aspects generally are more wholesome
than those available to Negroes. The salient differences may be

39 Based on a survey of kitchenette apartment areas among Negroes on
South Parkway and among whites on Drexel Boulevard, made during the
summer of 1931 for the Group on Physical Aspects of Negro Housing
of the Committee on Negro Housing. See Appendix VII, "The Kitchenette
Apartment," p. 258.

180 NEGRO HOUSING

summed up as follows: The apartments for whites are trans-
formed into kitchenettes so as to allow natural light and air, and
privacy ; there are toilet facilities and running water in each apart-
ment; and, in contrast to the Negro area, clothes closets are not
used as kitchens. These physical differences obviously suggest
wide differences in the design, arrangements, and conditions gen-
erally conducive to health — or lack of it — in kitchenette apartments.
In exchange for a place to sleep, inadequate cooking facilities
and crowded conditions, Negroes in kitchenette apartments pay
more than do whites for even better apartments. As to rents Miss
Tenon says,

"The highest rent paid on Drexel Boulevard for an apartment was $12.50,
while the highest amount paid on South Parkway was $15 a week. These
apartments were comparable in accommodations. However, those on Drexel
Boulevard, for this maximum amount, also offered maid and janitor service.
The average rental per week per apartment on Drexel Boulevard was $7.15
while the average rental on South Parkway was $8.75 a week." *°

The foregoing materials suggest that when differences in rental
prices are coupled with differences in physical standards and other
services Negroes pay an exorbitant price for kitchenette apart-
ments.

One can only guess at the menace to health that the kitchenette
apartment creates. Sound judgment, however, obviously suggests
that two to four hundred people cannot be housed in a small area
devoid of adequate sanitary conditions, light and air, without
serious jeopardy to health. Of the effects on morals one can speak
with somewhat more assurance. Common use of bath and toilet
facilities by men, women and children unquestionably lowers the
moral tone of those thus exposed. It is significant to note that a
woman probation officer of the Cook County Juvenile Court re-
ports a marked increase in the number of sex delinquency cases
among Negro girls arising out of situations in kitchenette apart-
ments. Following observation of this fact, one hundred cases
were canvassed of girls charged with sex delinquency. It was
found that in 72 per cent of these cases the delinquent act occurred
in a kitchenette apartment. All of the girls did not live in kitchen-
ette apartments. Those who did not live in this type apartment
habitually visited them. The average age was fourteen years and

See Appendix VII, "The Kitchenette Apartment," p. 258.

HOUSING CONDITIONS AND DELINQUENCY IN CHICAGO 181

six months for this group of girls. The remaining 28 per cent
(of the 100 cases) were cases in which the sex delinquent act oc-
curred in a situation totally divorced from kitchenette apartments.41

Dependent Families and Rent

The rent paid for dependent Negro families in Chicago rarely
ever exceeds $25 a month. It is the policy of the United Charities
in sponsoring payment of rent for dependent families not to ex-
ceed this amount. Indeed, in many instances, the actual amount
budgeted for rent is considerably below this figure, scaling down-
ward as low as $6 and $8 a month. Cases that exceed the $25
maximum are for families located in the west side districts close
to white areas where rentals are somewhat higher.42

In cases coming to the attention of the charities, where the
families live in houses or apartments renting for above $25 a
month, the family is generally required to move into a place with
lower rent. On the other hand, there are numerous instances
where the family may or may not appeal to the charities for aid
and where the landlord permits them to remain in better dwellings
merely to keep the dwellings occupied. Danger of marauders
seeking to remove the plumbing and other fixtures of the house
when vacant, causes landlords to make this concession. However,
landlords sometimes complain that during periods of economic
distress some families injure the houses. One landlord cites an
instance where a family tore away the mantel piece and used it for
firewood. In cases where families do injure the buildings, land-
lords prefer that they move, foregoing even the rent sponsored by
the relief agency.

Rents and Delinquency

It is generally assumed that delinquency has a direct relation-
ship with low economic status and that along with this, low rents
prevail. On the basis of this assumption it would be expected that
virtually all of the families in which there are delinquents would
be found in the lowest economic level and in the lowest scale of

41 Information secured from Mrs. Patricia Clark, Juvenile Probation Offi-
cer, Cook County Juvenile Court.

42 Based on "data secured from district offices, United Charities, and from
a personal interview with Mrs. Lillian Summers, District Superintendent.

182 NEGRO HOUSING

rent. In a canvass of Negro families in which there are delinquent
children (series of 1929), this assumption was not found to be
absolutely valid, although there seemed to be a relationship with
those bordering on the lower levels of income and rent.

It has been previously noted that the incomes of families in
which there were delinquents were approximately the same as for
the lower-level occupational classifications. In the matter of rents
paid, a corresponding situation prevails. It should be noted, how-
ever, that the mere fact of high rent does not necessarily indicate
a high quality of house and a desirable neighborhood. On the
contrary, it is sometimes merely a large dwelling in an area
characterized by delinquency, the rent of which is met by the addi-
tion of roomers to the regular family household. In many in-
stances the amount of rent paid was not indicated in the court
records. However, based on other data in the individual case
records of this group, it seems safe to assume that the cases in
which the data were given form a reliable sample. Of 326 fami-
lies where the rent was indicated, the median rental was $29.90 a
month. It should be noted, however, that the greatest frequencies
in the amount of rent paid were $20 and $25 a month. Home
ownership among the Negro delinquent group was decidedly low.
Home ownership among white families in which there are delin-
quents is considerably greater. This may be explained, however,
largely in terms of the longer length of residence in the county by
white families in which there are delinquents. In contrast to the
average length of time in the county of approximately six years
for the Negro group, white families average fifteen years.

Certainly the largest number of frequencies of even the median
rental paid by Negro families in this group is not high enough to
afford residence in desirable homes or in desirable residential areas.
The rental averages are comparable to rents paid for stove-heated
places and dwellings in a state of physical deterioration. This is
exactly what is true of the delinquent group living in the most
deteriorated areas of Chicago. On the other hand, a considerable
number live in an area of steam-heated apartments and in houses
in better physical condition. Even here, however, the physical
deterioration shows a lowering of community standards, and ex-
cept for counteracting influences it is only a question of time before
these places, too, will show considerably more deterioration. The
foregoing of course does not apply without some variations to

HOUSING CONDITIONS AND DELINQUENCY IN CHICAGO 183

those cases of delinquency that have crept into the more desirable
Negro residential areas.

Some may be inclined to accept low-level incomes and low rents
as the total explanation of delinquency. The economic situation
is, certainly, a potent factor in the maladjustment involved in such
families. However, in the light of recent intensive research in
this field it is desirable to consider these factors as they relate to
areas of the city characterized by delinquency.43 It is into areas
characterized by physical deterioration and community disorganiza-
tion that the newcomer tends to settle as a means of securing a
foothold. It is in these areas that community behavior patterns
conflict with family standards of behavior. Out of the total sit-
uation emerges the delinquent individual.

Attention will next be devoted to specific areas of Negro settle-
ment in Chicago. The materials heretofore discussed probably
suggest wide differences in these areas. The significance of some
of these differences and the dynamic character of these areas are
the focal points of the following discussion.

V. Zones of Negro Settlement
The "Black Belt"

The majority of Chicago's Negro population lives in an area
south of the Loop which is approximately seven miles in length
and from a mile to a mile and a half in width. This area of con-
centrated Negro population is popularly called the "Black Belt."
Contrary to popular impressions the "Belt" is not a homogeneous
area ; it is, in fact, an area of marked contrasts. Within the larger
area of the "Belt" there are smaller areas characterized by vice,
desertion, delinquency, the homeless man, etc. In contrast there
are areas which are characterized by home ownership, high-level
occupational groupings, etc. ; in short, high degree community
organization.

This brief introduction suggests the dynamic character of Negro
areas of settlement. This section has for its task the consideration

"This statement refers to (1) the work of Clifford R. Shaw of the In-
stitute for Juvenile Research, Chicago ; (2) the distribution and extent of
juvenile delinquency used as index in Frazier's study, op. cit.; and (3) an
intensive research study of juvenile delinquency among Negroes in Chicago
by the writer.

184 NEGRO HOUSING

of the dynamic character of the "Black Belt," with especial con-
sideration devoted to delinquency, and prevailing incomes and rents
among families in which there are delinquent children. The ma-
terials of this section will be considered in terms of zones of
settlement.44

Twelfth Street Zone.45 As early as the beginning of the
century Negroes lived in the Twelfth Street zone. More Negroes,
however, lived in the area during the first two decades than live
there at present. The deterioration in the neighborhood was in
evidence prior to the World War migration period. Houses of
prostitution and other vice resorts had invaded the area. Later,
migrants from the South settled there, pushing the older residents
farther out. With these population changes also came changes in
the extent of delinquency. In general, Negro delinquency in the
area has fluctuated, with a definite tendency toward decrease. The
decrease is attributable largely to the invasion of the area by busi-
ness and the pushing of Negroes farther out, plus an additional
reclaiming of the area by whites who have moved into what dwell-
ings remain, seeking cheaper rents.

The decrease in delinquency is shown in that in the Juvenile
Court Series of 1900-06, the square mile area rates were 17.3 per
cent and 29.1 per cent respectively from the western part of the
zone going toward the lake. In 1917-23 the respective square mile
area rates were 13.3 per cent and 19.4 per cent.46 The actual num-
bers of Negro delinquents in the area show a trend toward de-
creasing. In the 1900-06 Juvenile Court Series there were sixteen
male Negro delinquents; in the 1917-23 Juvenile Court Series
there were three male Negro delinquents. In the 1929 Juvenile
Court Series there were five male Negro delinquents. Of the lat-

44 The zone classification used herein was originated and used by E.
Franklin Frazier, op. cit.

46 It was earlier anticipated that a thorough-going and intensive analysis
of the small unit areas would be made, especially in the light of inherent
characteristics of the area, which in turn reflect community norms of be-
havior and the degree of community organization. The limited time allowed
for the completion of this paper necessitated a change of emphasis and of
content, however, so that, instead, an attempt was made merely to indicate
some of the salient characteristics of areas, primarily from a lay point of
view.

40 Shaw, Clifford R., et al., Delinquency Areas, Chicago, University of
Chicago Press, 1929, pp. 96 and 89.

HOUSING CONDITIONS AND DELINQUENCY IN CHICAGO 185

ter group, recidivists outnumbered first offenders. This fact lends
added evidence to the decrease in delinquency, inasmuch as new
recruits in crime were not in evidence.

Inasmuch as there are no Negro institutions in this zone around
which community life may be organized, there is nothing there
especially to attract or hold the Negro population. When move-
ment takes place it is usually beyond the limits of the southern
boundary. This suggests that those Negroes living there do so
because of low income and the chance for cheap rent. Of five
Negro delinquents in the area, the fathers of three either had no
income or at least no income was recorded for them in the records
of the Juvenile Court.47 One earned only $20 a week while an-
other earned $25. Only one mother of these delinquents had an
income. She earned $15 a week. That the income level was low
is revealed in the occupational classification of the fathers of these
same delinquents. One was listed as having no occupation, two
were laborers, and two were in small businesses. As to the occupa-
tion of the mothers, one was not listed, two were housewives, while
two were working out — one in laundry work, the other in factory
work. In the cases of families of female delinquents in this zone,
the record of earnings of neither father nor mother was given in
the court records. The one case giving the occupation of the
father recorded him as a laborer, while two mothers were classified
as in domestic service. These occupational ratings rather suggest
the low-income level of the parents of delinquents in the area.

The rents paid by these families showed rather wide variation.
However, the majority of them paid about the same. The follow-
ing information is based on the records of families of both male
and female Negro delinquents. Two cases did not record the rent
paid. One family paid $9 a month, two families $20 a month, three
families $25 a month, one family $50 and one $80 a month. This
level of rents suggests that the houses in which the families lived
would not indicate high-income levels, and by inference suggests

47 Caution must be exercised in drawing conclusions relative to income and
rent in the small area on a basis of data presented pertaining to the delin-
quent group. The comparatively negligible number of cases, especially in
certain areas, adds to the need for caution. The data presented are primarily
for the purpose of showing how data for the entire delinquent group are
distributed in small area units. A clearer picture of income and rent levels
among families in which there are delinquents has been presented in preceding
sections of this appendix.

186 NEGRO HOUSING

the quality of the house. However, one other aspect might be
considered here; that is, that the average number of rooms oc-
cupied was approximately three per family. The actual distribu-
tion was as follows: Two families occupied two rooms; one
family occupied three rooms; four families, four rooms; and one
family, seven rooms. The average number of persons per house-
hold living in these houses was 3.3. The nature of delinquencies
of male Negro delinquents in this area falls into three groups:
Two, assault with deadly weapon and robbery, two were burglary,
and one was stealing money. The female delinquents fall into two
categories : One was an habitual truant from home and four were
behavior problem cases. In spite of the fact that the area bordered
on an area of prostitution, only one of the female delinquents was
classed in the social type of sex delinquent. Two were delinquent
because of conditions within the home and one through association
with a gang. Male delinquents were either of the gang type or
the malicious and bully type, with one delinquent as a direct result
of conditions within the home.

Twenty-second Street Zone. The Twenty-second Street
zone embraces the area from Twenty-second Street to Thirty-sec-
ond Street and from Wentworth Avenue to the lake. While there
are differences within the area, there are several marked character-
istics of the area when considered as a unit. In so far as Chicago
has a decidedly Negro homeless man area, it runs along State
Street centering around Thirty-first. Cheap hotels, flop houses,
and cheap restaurants afford these unattached men places to sleep
and eat at a minimum cost. It is in this area that the Wabash
Lodge for the relief of unattached men was established during
the past winter. The homeless men may also be found eastward on
Thirty-first and around the intersection at Indiana Avenue. One
may be accosted at almost any hour of the day or night by drunken
men begging the "price of a cup of coffee" or a cigarette. Several
habitual beggars are to be seen at Thirty-first and State Streets.

The second characteristic of the area is the potential viciousness
centering along Thirty-first Street. Just east of State is a cheap
hotel reputed to be the hangout of prostitutes and pimps. It is
certainly established that most of the men living in the hotel do not
follow a regular occupation ; indeed, most of them do no work at
all. It was here that several years ago a gang of habitual auto-
mobile thieves lived. Farther east are several reputed black and

HOUSING CONDITIONS AND DELINQUENCY IN CHICAGO 187

tan cabarets of questionable character. Female impersonators
bearing the names of outstanding movie stars are the source of
attraction.

The third characteristic of this zone is the excess of adults over
children. Although there are families in which there are children,
in proportion to the total population they are relatively few.

During the World War migration period this area was second
only to Thirty-fifth Street in the degree of popularity among
Negroes. As the population pushed farther southward the area
lost prestige and in turn showed decided deterioration. Towards
its upper limits business has invaded the area, especially along
State Street, Michigan Avenue and South Parkway. Business
invasion along South Parkway has tended to reclaim the area from
houses that were almost the extreme in physical deterioration to
modern commercial establishments.

Rents in this area have been previously discussed. Attention,
however, will be given briefly to the distribution of rents paid by
families in which there are delinquents. The prevailing rents paid
by twenty- four families in which there are Negro male delin-
quents are under $30 a month. Nineteen of the twenty-four cases
fall within this group, scaling downward as low as $7 a month.
The highest rent paid falls within the $40 to $50 interval, being
paid by only two families.

Most of the families in which there are delinquents in this area
are housed in apartments over stores. Comparatively few of the
apartments have less than four rooms. Most of the families live
on the second and third floors with a few occupying apartments
located higher up or in the basement.

Thirty-second Street Zone. The Thirty-second Street zone
extends southward as far as Thirty-ninth Street with the same
east and west boundaries as indicated in the zone above. The
marked characteristics of this area are: First, the decadence of
the area as the center of life among the Negro population of Chi-
cago ; second, the decadence as the business center of Negro life ;
third, the prevalence of forms of vice — especially policy wheels,
bootlegging, and delinquency ; and fourth, the change in the char-
acter of the population.

At the height of the initial influx of Negroes into Chicago,
Thirty-fifth and State Streets were the center of Negro life. It
was said, with a marked degree of truth, that during that period

188 NEGRO HOUSING

any Negro standing at the intersection of these two streets would,
within the course of a few days, be sure to see any friend who lived
in Chicago. Not only did businesses owned by Negroes flourish
in this area but Thirty-fifth Street was in addition the center of
the night life. Some established businesses still remain in the area.
Notable among the latter are an insurance company, a Negro
weekly newspaper, and the Overton banking and manufacturing
interests. With the expansion of the "Black Belt" southward,
the glamour that previously characterized Thirty-fifth Street has
become almost negligible. Although there are signs of business
activity during daylight hours, one is much impressed with the fact
that the street is practically deserted at night, which is in contrast
to the heyday of its career.

Although cabarets and dancing schools were prevalent in the
area during the period of the heavy influx of Negroes, they were
expressions peculiar to the time and were an index to the emanci-
pation of Negroes from social controls in their new environment.
In contrast, the vice of today which characterizes the area is more
subtle in form, though perhaps more far-reaching in effects. The
more prevalent forms of vice are the policy wheels, whose head-
quarters are in the area, the numbers of policy writers and of
bootleg flats. These vices are the expression of loose forms of life
in the area. Along with community disorganization there has been
a decided increase in delinquency among Negroes.

The rent paid by families in which there are delinquents aver-
ages $30 a month. No exact statement can be made as to income
levels because of the number of cases in this zone for which data
were not available. However, income levels probably were low
inasmuch as, of those cases for which data were recorded, "com-
mon laborer" was the prevailing occupational classification.

Thirty-ninth Street Zone. It is in the Thirty-ninth Street
zone that a larger group of Negro delinquents is found than in
any other settlement zone among Negroes. Inasmuch as popula-
tion data are not available it cannot, however, be stated with
absolute accuracy that this is the most delinquent settlement zone.
Comparisons on a basis of the same age and sex distribution are
necessary for accurate determination. However, the extent of
delinquency attests the individual and community processes of
disorganization and reorganization. Case history documents of

HOUSING CONDITIONS AND DELINQUENCY IN CHICAGO 189

delinquents reveal the emancipation of the children from former
family controls.

The wide range of rents paid by families in which there are
delinquents may be explained on the basis of the distribution of
such families within the zone. Attention was earlier called to the
fact that rents west of State Street were somewhat higher than
those east of State, especially on Michigan Avenue and South
Parkway. The range in rents, then, varies probably on a basis
of the distribution of families in which there are delinquents
throughout this zone. The result is that there is a wide range
extending from families that pay as little as $10 a month to those
who are paying upwards of $70 a month. In the low levels of
rent the predominant price paid is $25 a month. In the higher
brackets there is a comparatively even distribution ranging from
$30 to $50 a month.

The occupational classification of the parents of delinquents in
this zone reveals that "common labor" for the men and domestic
service for the women are by far the two outstanding types of work.
It should be noted, however, in passing, that the number of mothers
classed as housewives exceeds that of any other zone. Almost 50
per cent of the fathers are classed as "common laborers." Slightly
more than 25 per cent of the mothers were in domestic service.
Although the total number of cases was high for which earnings
were recorded in the court records, it should be noted that families
in this zone earned within the higher-limit average of the occupa-
tion in which they fall. For the cases recorded, most of the men
earn more than $25 a week while the mothers earn between $10
and $15.

The materials presented pertaining to families in which there are
Negro male delinquents are true likewise for families in which
there are Negro female delinquents. This is particularly true of
the occupational classifications of the parents and of their income
levels.

Forty-seventh Street Zone. The Forty-seventh Street zone
presents a strange medley of Negro life comparable to, yet far ex-
ceeding, that which characterized the Thirty-fifth Street area dur-
ing the period of influx of Negroes into Chicago. This medley
reveals itself in the marked contrast of conditions along State
Street and west of it when compared to conditions around South
Parkway, West of State Street, going toward the railroad tracks,

190 NEGRO HOUSING

one finds an area of physical deterioration and considerable vice
and crime. Here and there are bright spots within the area which
reveal efforts to conserve community life.

Around South Parkway and Forty-seventh Street centers to a
marked degree the business and professional life of the Negro
group. Within this zone community life is reflected in that strong
community institutions, notably churches, are located here. These,
however, are in contrast to the sporting element found here and
there. Community life reflects itself likewise in the rather excel-
lent physical care of houses. There are indications of a degree of
selection of the population. Selection within families in which
there are delinquents asserts itself in this area as in selection within
the normal population. This selection reflects itself especially in
the amount of rent paid. The number of such families paying be-
low $30 rent is comparatively negligible. In contrast, almost 75
per cent of the families for which rents are recorded pay $35 a
month and upwards. The largest single group within the range
table consists of fourteen families paying $70 and upwards a
month.

Fifty-fifth Street Zone. The selection and segregation of
population within this zone reveal a somewhat higher degree of
community life. However, it should be noted that although the
actual numbers of delinquents and percentage of delinquency
within the area are marked, delinquency is, nevertheless, on the
increase. Community disorganization reflects itself somewhat in
the small gangs of petty marauders that hang around business
corners. As was indicated in the Forty-seventh Street zone, the
selection within the delinquent group reflects itself in the amount
of rent paid by families in which there are delinquents. Most of
the families within the area pay $35 and upwards, with a marked
grouping in the $70 interval and upwards.

Sixty-seventh Street Zone. The Sixty-seventh Street zone
embraces the community of West Woodlawn. It is in this area
that reference has been frequently made in previous materials to
the high degree of community organization and selection and
segregation within the Negro population. The degree of home
ownership alone is an index of community life. On the other
hand, recent movements into the area by those farther north re-

MOUSING CONDITIONS AND DELINQUENCY IN CHICAGO 191

fleet processes of deterioration. This movement has been attrib-
uted largely to the pressure that has been brought to bear on vice
forces located within the Thirty-second Street zone. In an effort
to escape the raids of police these interests have skipped over inter-
vening zones of settlement and migrated to the West Woodlawn
area. However, a counteracting force is in evidence in an effort
to conserve community standards. The more alert leadership of
the community has a well-functioning community association
which is attempting to combat elements making for deterioration
within the community. These efforts, to an extent, have been
successful.

The number of delinquents within this area is negligible. For
the Juvenile Court Series of 1929 there was only one Negro male
and no female delinquents. Although there are many childre.n in
the area, potent forms of family and social control are in evidence
in the negligible number of delinquents. The attitude of the com-
munity toward delinquency is reflected in the statement of a woman
civic leader. On one occasion she remarked :

"Those children who are delinquents out in this area are all children who
were delinquents before they moved into the area, and after they have been
here they tend to be no longer delinquent."

While the one case listed in the 1929 Series is not an absolute
index to the extent of delinquency in the light of other years, it
does reflect, to a marked extent, the degree of community organi-
zation and community attitude which are not conducive to the
existence of delinquency. Indeed, a check of individual delinquent
cases within the area subsequent to the 1929 Series shows the
quotation above to be remarkably accurate.

The Near West Side

Negro invasion of the Near West Side community48 has not
taken place at an even pace. Toward the northern boundary
limits, along Lake Street, a pioneer group of Negroes some years

48 The Near West Side refers to a local community in Chicago whose
sociological history has been worked out by the Local Community Research
Committee of the University of Chicago. The boundary limits of the com-
munity extend from Kinzie Street on the north to Sixteenth Street on the
south; from the Pennsylvania railroad tracks on the west to the Chicago
River on the east.

192 NEGRO HOUSING

ago established themselves. This group tended to show a selection
comparable to that at present in existence within the southern
boundary limits of the "Black Belt." With the growth of the
Negro population these pioneer efforts have been somewhat over-
come, with the result that this area now shows a marked degree of
deterioration. This deterioration, however, is not exclusively at-
tributed to the influx of migrants but rather to the natural history
of a community involved in the growth of the city. The invasion of
Negroes within the southern boundary limits, centering in the
Maxwell Street area, is decidedly in contrast to the early invasion
along Lake Street. In the Maxwell Street area one finds the new
migrants from the South who have displaced to a remarkable ex-
tent the Jewish population that formerly lived in the area. Within
this area one notes on every hand the extremes of physical de-
terioration, low-income levels, low rents, poverty, vice and crime.
In-short, it is a community of extremely low-degree organization.

In view of the differences within the larger community, con-
sideration of the Near West Side area will be divided into ( 1 ) the
Lake Street Area; and (2) the Maxwell Street Area.

Lake Street Area. Reference has been made in the preceding
paragraph to the pioneer settlement of Negroes along Lake Street.
In recent years this Negro settlement has had a decided increase
in population. The selection of the population reveals an aver-
age type more stable than those in the Maxwell Street district.
However, the invasion of business in the area is reflected in phys-
ical deterioration, and consequently, community disorganization.
Some semblance of community life, however, is in evidence in the
church institutions located in the area.

Houses within this area are cheaper than those found on the
South Side except, perhaps, those in the northern end of the
"Black Belt." Although rents in this area and rents in the northern
end of the "Black Belt" are comparable, the degree of physical
deterioration is not as marked on the West Side as in the northern
end of the "Belt." In spite of the invasion of business and sub-
sequent community deterioration, the Negro population of the area
remains a rather stable group. Evidence of this is to be seen in
the lack of mobility within the delinquent group, which is in
marked contrast to the Maxwell Street area.

Statistical data relating to the number of delinquents in the area
show a steady increase in recent years. In earlier years delin-

HOUSING CONDITIONS AND DELINQUENCY IN CHICAGO 193

quency within the area was primarily within the non white group.
With the increase of Negroes the latter group has increasingly
displaced the non white delinquent group, so that in the Juvenile
Court Series of 1929 there was a total of twenty-three Negro
male delinquents in the area. This number composed 85.1 per cent
of the total male delinquents in the area. It should be noted, how-
ever, that in surrounding areas there was a preponderance of white
delinquents.

Negro families in which there were delinquents usually paid
under $30 a month rent. Indeed the highest frequency distribution
was to be found within the $20 to $25 interval. This substantiates
the statement made previously relative to the fact that rentals
within the area were comparable to those at the northern end of the
"Belt," yet afford a better type of residence than is secured for
the same rent on the South Side. Most of the Negro men living
in the area are engaged in semi-skilled and unskilled work in
nearby factories. The majority of the fathers of Negro delin-
quents are classed as "common laborers." Their earnings average
approximately $30 a week.49

Maxwell Street Area. It has been within the last decade that
Negroes have to a marked extent invaded the southern end of the
Near West Side community — the Maxwell Street area. However,
before 1920, Negro invasion of the area had started. This early
infiltration was rather negligible as to numbers and was for the
most part composed of the drift of the population from farther
north and of early migrants from the South. In either event,
the search was for cheap rents. The rapid increase in the Negro
population in the area was due to its proximity to railroad yards
where early migrants settled, to the colonization of the migrants,
and to the search for cheap rents. It is the opinion of well-in-
formed residents of the area that the majority of the present
Negro population found in the area are comparatively newly
arrived migrants from the South. One resident of the community
described the Negro population in part as follows :

"Most of them have just come up from the South. You can almost always
tell them. The first winter that they are here you see them going down
the street with heavy underwear showing through their woolen stockings
and all bundled up. Then the next year you see them with their silk stock-
ings and low-cut shoes on. . . ."

Attention is called to footnote 30, p. 171.

194 NEGRO HOUSING

Delinquency was decidedly prevalent in the area prior to the
invasion of Negroes. The Jewish group composed the largest
proportion of delinquents. Before 1920 only one Negro delin-
quent is recorded as coming from that area. With the change in
racial composition, however, the numbers of delinquents coming
from the Negro group have steadily risen, so that within a decade
the number of Negro delinquents has increased to forty-six Negro
male delinquents in the area. The proportion to the total delin-
quents in the area, however, is not as marked as in the Lake Street
area. This is due to the rather cosmopolitan racial composition
of the area. The forty-six delinquents in 1929 composed 56.1
per cent of the total male delinquents in the area. On the other
hand, there were twenty-three Negro female delinquents in the
area in 1929 in contrast to only five white female delinquents.
Thus Negro females composed 82.1 per cent of the female delin-
quents in the area.

The mobility of Negro families in which there are delinquents
reflects the degree of mobility of the Negro population in the
area. A resident of the area describes the mobility of the general
population as follows :

"They don't keep up the property. They would just as soon cut down
fences or tear a board off the side of the house for firewood . . . Instead
of trying to keep up the property they simply tear up the houses, then move
on to some other one. Most of the time they simply move right across the
street, or from one street over to the next."

The prevailing low rents paid by Negroes within this area are
reflected to a marked extent in the Negro families in which there
are delinquents. Virtually all of such families paid under $30
rent, with an average of approximately $25. Likewise, earnings
are primarily under $30 a week. The low level of economic in-
come is, however, expected in view of the preponderance of "com-
mon laborers" that live within the area. The numbers of fathers
of delinquents so classified, rank second for all Negro areas of
settlement. In proportion to the total numbers they actually rank
first.

It is recognized that these materials regarding zones of Negro
settlement do not present a thorough-going analysis of inherent
characteristics of such zones in Chicago.50 It is hoped, never-

60 Attention is called to footnote 44, p. 184.

HOUSING CONDITIONS AND DELINQUENCY IN CHICAGO 195

theless, that at least salient differences that exist between settle-
ment zones were indicated. There are, to be sure, other small unit
areas that could be canvassed. Our effort, however, has centered
on those areas in which delinquency is prevalent and, by way of
contrast, several zones that have a negligible amount of delin-
quency.

VI. Findings and Tentative Conclusions

In any attempt to generalize about economic and social malad-
justment, one must first of all recognize that an individual is the
product of his total cultural situation. This is especially true of
maladjustment exhibited in the form of delinquency. No one
factor, then, may be isolated and indelibly marked as the causal
factor of maladjustment per se. Instead, it is desirable to study
the individual in relation to the total situation. It is true, never-
theless, that one or more factors may have considerably more
weight than others.

The increase in juvenile delinquency among Negroes in Chicago
shows the same sequential development as that for any racial or
nationality group.51 The rise, ascendancy and subsequent ebb of
delinquency has had its counterpart, historically, in immigrant
groups that have come into Chicago. The Poles- and Italians, in
this connection, are examples par excellence. Delinquency among
Negroes is rapidly reaching the point of ascendance — indeed, if it
is not at that point now. The subsequent ebb, in the course of time,
will register itself clearly. The acceleration of a decrease in delin-
quency depends, ( 1 ) largely upon the rapidity with which Negroes
are able to effect cultural adjustment in their comparatively new
environment; and (2) upon whether or not they are displaced
from their status of newcomers by some other group. Wholesale
immigration, for example, would accelerate the latter process.52

The problem of delinquency is best understood in terms of
differences in areas rather than merely in terms of income and rent

51 This statement is based not only upon the materials embodied in this
paper but also upon an intensive study, by the writer, of juvenile delinquency
among Negroes in Chicago.

52 It should IDC clearly understood that this paper does not advocate whole-
sale immigration. The statement is merely a prediction of probable results,
on a basis of intensive studies, in the event of wholesale immigration in-
volving the displacement of Negroes from their present low-level status,
This displacing is characteristic of all newcomer groups.

196 NEGRO HOUSING

levels. The processes of selection and segregation tend to link up
decidedly these latter aspects with inherent differences in areas.
Families in which there are delinquents tend to reside in areas of
deterioration as a means of securing a foothold. These families
are primarily newcomers. It is in these areas that delinquency is
prevalent. Delinquency arises out of neighborhood situations,
community norms of behavior, conflict between family and com-
munity standards and controls, and the emancipation of the in-
dividual from family norms of behavior. Placed in a new situa-
tion, parents, in order to "get a start," are forced to a minimum
level in areas of deterioration. There is, at first, a status which
naturally comes from being a newcomer — a combination of in-
difference and contempt on the part of those who are higher up the
scale. The low status of the newcomer is the outgrowth of low
occupational work, low-income levels and residence in areas of de-
terioration. The increase of delinquency, then, among Negroes is
due to their segregation into such areas. In these areas, which are
on the fringe of commercial and industrial centers, community
norms of behavior vary considerably from conventional standards.
It is not intended to suggest that all Negroes, even among the
newly arrived, reside in areas of deterioration. This refers
primarily to those of that group who, without economic and in-
tellectual resources, inevitably fall into this situation. On the
other hand, it must be noted that the Negro population shows the
same processes of selection and segregation that operate within
any population.53 Further, this selection and segregation show
communities within Negro areas that are characterized by in-
dividual and community disorganization, in contrast to other areas
of high-degree organization. These areas, in turn, link up with
occupational and income levels within the Negro population. An
example of this is evident in the placements made by the Chicago
Urban League in 1930 (Table V) in which the lower-level occupa-
tional groups came primarily from those areas toward the northern
end of the "Black Belt." 5* Frazier, on the other hand, discovered

63 Based on Frazier's findings, op. cit. Corroborated on a basis of distribu-
tion, extent, and concentration of delinquency among Negroes in Chicago in
the writer's study of juvenile delinquency among Negroes in Chicago.

M The occupational distribution among Negroes in Chicago has received a
thorough-going and scientific analysis by E. Franklin Frazier, The Amer-
ican Journal of Sociology, March, 1930, Vol. 35, No. 5.

HOUSING CONDITIONS AND DELINQUENCY IN CHICAGO 197

higher-level occupational groupings toward the southern end of
the "Belt."

The assumption that low-income levels are the primary cause
of delinquency does not seem to be absolutely valid. While income
levels unquestionably play an important part in social maladjust-
ment, they must, as they relate to delinquency, be linked up with
those areas of the city whose norms of behavior are especially con-
ducive to delinquency. Income levels, then, are a causal factor
in so far as competition tends to press families into areas of de-
terioration.

Individual disorganization, which reflects itself in delinquency,
is the result of the emancipation from former controls on the part
of the migrant. As reorganization takes place delinquency will
show a marked decrease. Reorganization may be accelerated
through higher-income levels which in turn will afford opportunity
for movement to higher-level communities. On the other hand,
when industrial conditions reach intensive production levels, neces-
sitating new migrants, the sequence will be repeated — whether or
not the same or a different racial group is the newcomer.

It is in the case of the unattached young man, who must rely
entirely on his own resources, that low-income levels primarily
show a direct relationship between income and crime. The un-
attached individual's lack of knowledge, training and experience,
lack in range of contacts, lack of individual economic resources,
etc., are all contributing factors which create a real or potential
criminal. This relationship — between income and crime — is not
valid to the same degree in the case of the juvenile delinquent.55
This is due to differences — between the juvenile delinquent and the
unattached young-man offender — in age and in individual respon-
sibility for sustenance. However, even in the case of the juvenile
delinquent, an indirect relationship exists, to some degree, in that
he shares the presence or absence of the physical wants and needs
of his parents.

Attention is next turned briefly to income levels and scale of
rents.

The income levels in the lower occupational classifications gen-

66 Exceptions, of course, may be cited. In such cases family disorganiza-
tion usually involves some economic responsibility on the part of the in-
dividual.

19& NEGRO HOUSING

erally show that the Negro worker, both male and female, earns
less than the white worker for the same type and quality of work.

Rents vary considerably, not only on a basis of the physical con-
dition of the place, but also depending upon the area of location.
Regardless of the area, however, Negroes pay higher rent for
places comparable in physical conditions than do white tenants.
In order to meet higher rents, Negroes are forced to seek means to
augment their incomes. Two methods are rather prevalent. Either
roomers are taken into the home or both the husband and wife
work outside of the home. If there are children in the family,
particularly in certain areas, potential delinquency is thus increased.
Unscrupulous families are often able to pay high rent because of
illegitimate incomes. The selling of liquor or policy writing are
typical means employed by this group. As a result of low occupa-
tional classification and correspondingly low income, Negroes are
forced to live in deteriorated areas or to use the above legitimate
or illegitimate means to meet high rents. The foregoing, of course,
does not hold true with those Negroes in occupational classifications
and with income levels that allow considerable freedom of choice
in the selection of the homes in which they live. The statements
refer primarily to Negroes of lower occupational classifications
with correspondingly low levels of income.

The foregoing suggests that in the final analysis a multiple ap-
proach is necessary in the consideration of housing problems
among Negroes. This is especially true as it relates to juvenile
delinquency. Economic and social maladjustment is inextricably
interwoven with income levels, rent levels, and the physical aspects
of housing. These factors, nevertheless, are not constant in their
causal relationships.

The foregoing unquestionably savors considerably of a plati-
tudinous summary. However, it loses some of that quality when
one recognizes that inherent characteristics and differences in com-
munities suggest a definite and wide selection and segregation
within the Negro population. Recognition of this fact is basic and
should be the starting point of any remedial program.

APPENDIX III

EXTRACTS FROM STUDIES OF NEGRO

HOUSING— SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC

FACTORS— SEGREGATION

General

"Migration to the city is being followed by segregation into dis-
tricts and neighborhoods within the city. In northern cities years
ago Negro residents, for the most part, lived where their purses
allowed. With the influx of thousands of immigrants from the
South and the West Indies, both native Negro and newcomer
have been lumped together into distinct neighborhoods. In south-
ern cities domestic servants usually still live upon the premises of
their employers or nearby. But the growing Negro business and
professional classes and those engaged in other than domestic and
personal service find separate sections in which to dwell. Thus the
Negro Ghetto is growing up. New York has its 'San Juan Hill'
in the West Sixties, and its Harlem district of over 35,000 within
about eighteen city blocks; Philadelphia has its Seventh Ward;
Chicago has its State Street; Washington its North West Neigh-
borhood, and Baltimore its Druid Hill Avenue. Louisville has its
Chestnut Street and its 'Smoketown;' Atlanta its West End and
Auburn Avenue. These are examples taken at random which are
typical of cities, large and small, North and South.

"This segregation within the city is caused by strong forces at
work both within and without the body of the Negroes them-
selves. Naturally, Negroes desire to be together. The conscious-
ness of kind in racial, family and friendly ties binds them closer
to one another than to their white fellow-citizens. But as Negroes
develop in intelligence, in their standard of living and economic
power, they desire better houses, better public facilities and other
conveniences not usually obtainable in the sections allotted to their
less fortunate black brothers. To obtain these advantages they
seek other neighborhoods, just as the European immigrants who
are crowded into segregated sections of our cities seek better sur-
roundings when they are economically able to secure them.

"But a prejudiced opposition from his prospective white neigh-

199

200 , NEGRO HOUSING

bors confronts the Negro, which does not meet the immigrant
who has shuffled off the coil of his Continental condition. Intelli-
gence and culture do not often discount color of skin. Profes-
sions of democratic justice in the North, and deeds of individual
kindness in the South, have not yet secured to Negroes the un-
molested residence in blocks with white fellow-citizens. In north-
ern cities where larger liberty in some avenues obtains, the home
life, the church life and much of the business and community life
of Negroes are carried on separately and apart from the common
life of the whole people. In southern communities, with separate
street-car laws, separate places of amusement and recreation,
separate hospitals and separate cemeteries, there is sharp cleavage
between whites and Negroes, living and dead. With separation
in neighborhoods, in work, in churches, in homes and in almost
every phase of their life, there is growing up in the cities of
America a distinct Negro world, isolated from many of the im-
pulses of the common life and little known and understood by the
white world about it.

". . . In the midst of this migration and segregation, the Negro
is trying to make a three-fold adjustment, each phase of which re-
quires heroic struggle. First, there is the adjustment that all
rural populations have to make in learning to live in town. Ad-
justment to conditions of housing, employment, amusement, etc.,
is necessary for all who make the change from country to city.
The Negro must make a second adjustment from the status of a
chattel to that of free contract, from servitude to citizenship.
He has to realize in his own consciousness the self-confidence of
a free man. Finally, the Negro must adjust himself to the white
population in the cities, and it is no exaggeration of the facts to
say that generally today the attitude of this white population is
either indifferent or prejudiced or both.

"Now, the outcome of segregation in such a serious situation is
first of all to create an attitude of suspicion and hostility between
the best elements of the two races. Too much of the Negro's
knowledge of the white world comes through demagogues, com-
mercial sharks, yellow journalism and those 'citizens' who com-
pose the mobs, while too much of the white man's knowledge of
the Negro people is derived from similar sources, from domestic
servants and from superficial observation of the loafers about
the streets. The best elements of both races, thus entirely re-

STUDIES OF NEGRO HOUSING — SEGREGATION 201

moved from friendly contact, except for the chance meeting of
individuals in the market place, know hardly anything of their
common life and tend to become more suspicious and hostile
toward each other than toward strangers from a far country.

"The white community is thus frequently led to unjust judg-
ments of Negroes and Negro neighborhoods, as seen in the
sobriquets of 'Little Africa/ 'Black Bottom/ 'Niggertown/ 'Smoke-
town/ 'Buzzard's Alley/ 'Chinch-row/ and as indicated by the fact
that the individuals and families who live in these neighborhoods
are all lumped by popular opinion into one class. Only here and
there does a white person come to know that 'there are Negroes
and Negroes just as there are white folks and white folks.' The
most serious side of this attitude and opinion is, that the Negro is
handicapped by them in securing the very things that would help
in working out his own salvation." pp. 109- 11 1.1

*****

"There are few cities that are not experiencing now some dis-
turbance on the question of Negro residence areas, and in many of
them this question has reached the desperate acuteness of attempts
at forcible segregation . . .

"More than physical limitations constitute the problem. . . .

"... Frequent . . . attempts to legislate (to control Negro en-
croachment on white neighborhoods) . . . have occurred in such
border cities as Baltimore, Washington, Louisville and St. Louis

. . ." p. 302.2

*****

"The segregation movement . . . may be viewed as a process
by which individuals in a free society redistributed themselves
in accordance with natural ability and personal interest, and how
this natural tendency was in part directed and controlled and
everywhere limited by the existing racial and caste attitudes . . ."

p. 154.3

*****

"Separation by residence of the Negro from the white exists in

1 Haynes, George E., "Conditions Among Negroes in the Cities," Annals
of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, September, 1913,
Vol. 49, pp. 105-119.

2 "A Note on Housing Problems," (Editorial) Opportunity, October, 1926,
Vol. 4, p. 302.

3Reuter, E. B., The American Race Problem, New York, Thomas Y.
Crowell Company, 1927.

202 NEGRO HOUSING

some form in all American cities. In none of them is there com-
plete segregation. No large American city is entirely white or
entirely Negro, as is the case with certain smaller communities.
There is no Negro quarter in any city in this country with the
absolute line of demarcation which separated Jew from Gentile in
the ghettos of the Middle Ages in European cities ... p. 105.

"The residential separation of white and Negro has almost in-
variably been treated by itself as if it were a unique phenomenon
of urban life. In fact, however, as recent studies clearly prove,
that is only one case among many of the workings of the process
of segregation in the sorting and shifting of the different elements
of population in the growth of the city. There are immigrant
colonies, the so-called Ghettos, Little Sicilies, Chinatowns as well
as Black Belts. There are also economic and cultural areas which
often cut across or transcend racial and nationality classifications
like the Hobohemias, Bohemias, Suburbias and Gold Coasts of
our metropolitan cities. The city, upon analysis, is divided and
subdivided into residential areas and neighborhoods, each of which
is or tends to be predominantly inhabited by some one racial and
immigrant group, or economic and social class . . . p. 105.

"Every community as it grows expands outward from its center.
This radial extension from the downtown business district towards
the outskirts of the city is due partly to business and industrial
pressure and partly to residential pull. Business and light manu-
facturing, as they develop, push out from the center of the city
and encroach upon residence. At the same time, families are always
responding to the appeal of more attractive residential districts,
further and ever further removed from the center of the city.

"As the result, then, of business and industrial encroachment,
on the one hand, and of the corresponding residential motive of
escape, on the other, the city tends to take form and to become
organized on a pattern approximating that of concentric zones . . .
These zones are :

I. The Central Business District Zone.
II. The Zone in Transition.

III. The Zone of Workingmen's Homes.

IV. The Residential Zone.

V. The Commuters' Zone . . .jpp. 105-106.

". . . In applying this pattern of urban zones to the problem of
residential segregation of racial and immigrant groups, certain

STUDIES OF NEGRO HOUSING — SEGREGATION 203

interesting facts at once emerge which suggest clues for further
study . . ." p. 108.4

"In order to classify cities according to the pattern of racial
separation, it is convenient to consider any area with a population
more than 90 per cent Negro as a concentrated Negro area, and
any area with a population more than 90 per cent white as a con-
centrated white area.

"The first group is typified by New York and Chicago, where
the concentration of Negroes is great and yet where it affects only
a small part of the whole city area; . . . the second group . . .
by Richmond, and includes most of the large southern cities
where Negroes are highly concentrated in several rather large
parts of the city and lightly scattered in others; ... the third
. . . group is typified by Charleston, and is limited to the older
southern cities and towns which have a heavy percentage of
Negroes in their total population, and consequently a heavy scat-
tering of Negroes throughout the city . . . and group four is
composed of cities with light colored infusion, where the diffusion
of Negroes affects only a very small area of the city and is some-
what scattered within this area . . ." pp. 37-3S.5

*****

"The most fundamental factor in the Negroes' housing troubles
has been their segregation in certain sections of the cities. This
concentration in particular districts is, of course, not a situation
peculiar to the colored population, for many nationality groups
tend to congregate in special areas, and every large city has its
Jewish section, its Chinatown or its Italian quarter. In the case
of the Negroes, however, the situation is more complex and seri-
ous because of the emotional tension involved and the race prej-
udice of the white people, who discourage attempts of the Negroes
to expand or change their customary residential area. Nor is
segregation a new phenomenon in the North, as for decades prac-
tically every northern city has exhibited to some extent a segrega-
tion of the colored residential sections from those of the whites.
Although complete and exclusive segregation of the Negroes into

* Burgess, Ernest W., "Residential Segregation in American Cities," An-
nals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, November,
1928, Vol. 140, pp. 105-115.

5Woofter, T. J. Jr. and Associates, Negro Problems in Cities, Garden
City, N. Y., Doubleday, Doran and Company, Inc., 1928.

204 NEGRO HOUSING

a district entirely colored was never prevalent, yet, as a general
rule, most of the Negro inhabitants lived in a few sections of each
city, the remainder being scattered in varying proportions among
the white neighborhoods. Thus virtual segregation had been more
or less quietly practiced for years, but with the arrival of hordes
of Negroes from the South this whole question of segregation
assumed new prominence and importance. In industrial centers
which received a noticeable increase in the number of colored
inhabitants, the migration tended to increase the amount of segre-
gation and to build up more distinctly Negro communities within
the cities ... pp. 143-144.

"Opposition to the expansion of Negro residence sections did
not generally assume the violent form of bombing and incendiar-
ism, but throughout the North there was widespread resentment
among white groups whenever Negroes tried to settle in new
neighborhoods ... p. 148.

"On the other hand, there are numerous cases of actual prop-
erty appreciation. Particularly since the recent migrations, the
Negroes have experienced serious difficulty in securing homes and
the result has been keen competition for houses which were
available. In such cases a Negro buyer or tenant is often willing
to pay a higher price than will a white man and a cool-headed
white owner can thus sell out at greater profit. According to the
Pennsylvania survey, 'Rents and selling prices have always been
raised when Negroes moved into the houses that formerly were
occupied by whites. The increases have averaged all the way from

25 to 50 per cent.' . . ." p. 150.6

* * * * *

"The factor of racial segregation, both voluntary and involun-
tary, may, and frequently does, contribute an angle to Negro hous-
ing as acute as segregation by income classes may contribute to the
housing problem of small-income groups. For even though a city
may have a sufficient number of dwellings for its total population,
there can still be an acute problem of available homes for Negroes.
This factor has been marked by the following:

(a) The tendency of the Negro population to concentrate in fewer
wards of cities, particularly in the North;

(b) Segregation laws designed to delimit areas of white and Negro
residence by legislation;

8 Kennedy, Louise Venable, The Negro Peasant Turns Cityward, New
York, Columbia University Press, 1930.

STUDIES OF NEGRO HOUSING — SEGREGATION 205

(d) The question of property depreciation ;

(e) The problem of financing home buying by Negroes in areas desig-
nated Negro.

"Studies of urban zones tend to stress the almost inevitable
and unique racial concentration linking them with certain economic
implications. The urban studies at the University of Chicago, con-
ducted under the direction of Robert E. Park and Ernest W.
Burgess, have gone far towards reducing these observations to a
pattern. Cities tend to expand and become organized on a pat-
tern approximately that of concentric zones. . . . pp. 200-201.

"A significant difference appears between northern and southern
cities. The location of many Negro homes in the South, near
places of employment as domestics, has established tolerance in
large degree of Negro neighbors, and it is possible, frequently,
for them to purchase and improve the property. Moreover, in
many cities of the South, Negroes have preceded white popula-
tions in sites desired as new developments and, owning the prop-
erty, have remained as these sites developed. Border cities, like
Baltimore, Maryland ; Louisville, Kentucky ; St. Louis, Missouri ;
with an uncertain mixture of traditions of both North and South,
have attempted to fix relations artificially through legislation. In
successive instances, however, segregation ordinances limiting the
residential areas of Negroes and of whites have been declared un-
constitutional by the higher courts. In northern cities, prior to the
large migrations of Negroes from the South, the Negro popula-
tion was a negligible factor. Economically hard pressed, it lived
in the abandoned sites of early white residents along with or in
close succession to other racial groups of similar economic status.
With the sudden influx of newcomers and the overrunning of areas
generally associated with Negroes, reaction to expansion was acute.
In many instances racial factors were given an importance much
out of proportion to their actual place in the natural course of the
properties in question. The Chicago riot had as one of its aggra-
vating causes this feature of the housing problem. Other cities
have had similar, if somewhat wider, experiences, and may there-
fore be taken as more representative of a large area." p. 203. 7

'Johnson, Charles S., The Negro in American Civilisation, New York,
Henry Holt and Company, 1930.

206 NEGRO HOUSING

The Causes and Results of Segregation8

". . . Residential segregation is the acute phase of the Negro
problem at the present time. Our large cities are being dotted
with black wards and white wards, which the politician knows as
well as the seaman knows the depths and shallows of the sea.
Public discussion of the race problem for the past decade has been
all but exclusively concerned with the northern migration and
the issues leading up to and flowing from that movement. The
rapid shifting of the Negro population from the agricultural
regions to the industrial centres was but an incident of the World
War, which has been prolonged by the restrictive policy adopted
affecting foreign immigration. The immediate motive of the
movement must clearly be attributed to industrial attractiveness
and economic allurement. It became seriously complicated by
agitation for political rights and civic equality. At one time this
movement threatened to assume the proportion of a hysterical
hegira shifting the gravamen of the race problem from the South
to the North. But after meeting the sudden necessity of war
expansion, northern industries have resumed their normal rate,
making a steady but diminished demand for the reenforcement of
black labor. We may therefore calculate that the growth of the
Negro contingent in the northern cities will be continuous and con-
trolled by the law of supply and demand in the labor market.

"The Negro leaves the agricultural district and the small town
and proceeds to the large cities of the North, where practically
the whole northern contingent is to be found. Because of the
rapid expansion of numbers, the Negro problem has become more
instant and urgent in the North than in the South. The question
of housing is the first issue to intrude itself and compel attention.
Other features of adjustment might well wait for a more pro-
pitious season. But the primal necessity for shelter, like that for
food, cannot be postponed or delayed. Somewhere to live is as
imperative as something to eat. The unparalleled influx of whites,
of itself, would have made the housing issue acute had not a
single Negro been involved, but the presence of the Negro gave
rise to a double order of complexity. He must needs be provided
for, not only with the rest, but separately from the rest. There
is little or no observable difference of sentiment on the part of

By Kelly Miller, Howard University.

STUDIES OF NEGRO HOUSING — SEGREGATION 207

the North and the South so far as segregation is concerned, ex-
cept as it is affected by the relativity of numbers.

"Peoples who feel themselves different, on whatever basis of
distinction this difference may rest, will seek separate domiciliary
areas. It boots little whether the basis of difference be racial,
social or cultural. This is often done without any conscious sense
of superior assumption on the one hand or self-debasement on the
other. In the Pacific cities the Japanese and the Chinese live in
self-sequestered communities by preference rather than by com-
pulsion. There is no conscious sense of self-belittlement on the
part of these non- white racial varieties. It often happens that a
group conscious of its own idiosyncrasies prefers its own com-
munity, to live according to its own manners, habits, and social
customs without embarrassing proximity to alien onlookers. The
Indian never seeks close residential relationships with the whites,
but like Milton's Satan, feels that 'furthest from him is best.'
But an inferiority complex which traditional subordination has
imposed upon the Negro has well-nigh robbed him of racial self-
esteem. His attitude toward the white race is that of the sub-
junctive mood. Unlike the Indian, the burden of his refrain is
'nearer to thee.' Anything that tends to racial separation in any
form he regards as an invidious discrimination which pushes him
still further from the plane of equality with his white overlord.

"The white man, on the other hand, deems social assimilability
impossible either now or at any future time. The dominant and
controlling element in the case is the determined attitude of the
white race to forbid residential promiscuity which, in turn, it is
felt, would lead to social equality. According to the traditional
bias of the American mind, the Negro's color connotes inferiority.
His birthmark is more opprobrious than the brand on the fore-
head of Cain. He must be colonized and penned into himself as
a race diseased. Intermarriageability is the acid test of good
neighborhood. Wherever two easily distinguishable groups are
forbidden to intermarry by law or custom, they will both find
themselves uncomfortable in close residential proximity. The
determination of the white race on this score is so firm and
emphatic that it has been placed beyond the pale of argumentation
and debate. The attitude on intermarriage, as well as its pre-
liminary social intimacies, is well-nigh unanimous in the white

208 NEGRO HOUSING

mind. This attitude will determine the issue of segregation as long
as it holds with tenacity and firmness.

"There is a certain type of temperament among the Negro intel-
ligentsia which dramatizes equality as the goal of all their striv-
ings. To this group discrimination on account of race is the last
word of abomination. The slightest suggestion of distinction
meets with indignation. No form of racial separation is tolerable.
They deride the natural disposition of self-segregation as being
derogatory to the doctrine of equality. To them agitation for
rights is a more engaging pastime than calm and logical analysis
of the factors involved in race advantage and advancement. The
question often rises in the mind of the white people why intelli-
gent, self-respecting Negroes seek to intrude themselves upon
white communities, since, in their view, exclusive racial neighbor-
hood is but a proper assertion of race preference and privilege
and leads to the peace and happiness of all concerned. The right-
minded Negro does not oppose segregation as such, but on account
of its compulsory character and the resulting hardships. It is an
infringement on his citizenship rights under the Fourteenth
Amendment to limit by law, or by any other form of compulsion,
his human or his property rights on the ground of race or color.
The desire of peoples of like taste and disposition to live in their
own communities on terms of easy social intimacy cannot be
affected by anything which the Negro can say or do. He knows
quite well that no amount of agitation on his part can force resi-
dential promiscuity with white people where such association is
unwelcome. Neither party could gain or bestow happiness by such
means. On the other hand he cannot be expected to surrender in
principle his constitutional right to the unrestricted use of prop-
erty, unhampered or unhindered by race or color.

"This seeming inconsistency is the inevitable result of the at-
tempt to make race prejudice conform to logic. The protestation
of the right-minded Negro is more than a mere abstract assertion
of his rights under the law. He is contending for real, concrete,
practical advantages. If the unrestricted tendency to force segre-
gation were allowed to go on without protest the Negro would
remain penned up in the most unsightly and unsanitary sections of
the cities to which his original ignorance and poverty assigned
him. When the Negro began to acquire intelligence and substance,
he was confronted with his residential predicament. He found

STUDIES OF NEGRO HOUSING — SEGREGATION 209

that he was living in alleys, and dark places, out of harmony with
his tastes and ability to acquire a modern home with up-to-date
appointments and facilities. There was no other way for him to
improve his surroundings and living conditions than by seeking
accommodations in white neighborhoods. He quite naturally
objects to being penned up in unwholesome surroundings from
which there is no escape. Experience also shows that exclusive
Negro neighborhoods cannot always rely upon city authorities to
furnish facilities for decent living. This is especially true in the
South where the Negro race is deprived of the franchise. It is
difficult to secure paved streets, light, water and sewerage in
Negro sections. The city officials are first concerned in meeting
the demands of the voters to whom they owe their positions. It is
as true now as when Lincoln first uttered it that 'no man is good
enough to govern another man without his consent.' Small
wonder, then, that the Negro is suspicious of fixed residential
boundaries.

". . . With the present attitude of the white race and its grow-
ing racial consciousness it is inevitable that the influx of Negroes
should be confined in segregated communities. As a social move-
ment the process has gone on almost unnoticed by both races.
Negro communities have grown up in all parts of the country as
if of their own accord. In many instances the Negro has secured
the fairest sections of our proudest cities. Reservations which a
brief generation ago the elite had chosen for their own abode have
fallen into the hands of the black invaders. The writer recalls a
reservation in the city of Washington where thirty years ago no
colored man was permitted even to pass through without a written
statement of his mission. Today a white man is supposed not to
tarry in this same reservation except on stated business. About
two decades ago an enterprising Negro realtor secured possession
of an apartment house in New York City. The adjacent houses
soon became vacant. Negro tenants were secured to fill the
vacancies. Contiguous properties were abandoned by white ten-
ants as fast as black encroachment impinged upon the erstwhile
tenements. After two decades we find in the heart of New York
the largest Negro city in the world. Here we see a solid Negro
community of some 200,000 souls, in compact residential segrega-
tion, with as definite lines of demarcation as if cut by a knife.
There was no compelling law. Indeed, the tradition and practice

210 NEGRO HOUSING

of New York State are against any form of racial discrimination
by law, and yet this process has gone on and still continues as effec-
tively as if by legislative enactment. The same story can be told
of all our larger cities to which Negroes are flocking in numbers.
"For the most part this process has gone on noiselessly without
exciting public notice or agitation. Occasionally there may be a
border skirmish, without serious effect to the participants or check
to the movement. The only casualty that has occurred throughout
the country was in the Sweet case in Detroit, which attracted
nation-wide attention. This case was in no sense different from
hundreds of other incidents occurring all over the country, with
the exception that it resulted in bloodshed. Dr. Sweet, a suc-
cessful medical practitioner in the City of Detroit, purchased a
house in what had hitherto been an exclusive white block. The
usual process of intimidation was resorted to. Windows were
broken, threats were made, and a noisy crowd assembled in front
of the premises. As a result of Dr. Sweet's defense of his home
an innocent bystander, a white man, was killed. Dr. Sweet and
his co-defenders were indicted for murder. The case appealed
to the sympathy of the Negro race throughout the country. A
considerable defense fund was raised by contributions and the
most noted criminal lawyer in the country was engaged. The
issue was not essentially one of segregation, but the sacredness of
the home. The court, true to Anglo-Saxon tradition, decided that
a man's home is his castle. The charge of murder was not proved,
and Dr. Sweet was acquitted. Yet this tragic incident had not the
slightest effect upon the segregation movement in Detroit or else-
where. The writer visited Detroit a few weeks after the trial
and found that there was not the slightest change of mind on the
part of either whites or blacks. We may count on more of these
incidents in the establishment of residential boundaries between
the races. The National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People, on the strength of the Sweet case, has issued a
nation-wide appeal for $1,000,000 to fight the cause of segregation,
but this fund, when raised, will be used mainly to defend the legal
rights of Negroes to occupy property secured by due process of
law, and will have little or no effect upon the real movement
toward segregation.

STUDIES OF NEGRO HOUSING — SEGREGATION 211

"The attempt is made to blame the Negro purchaser for intrud-
ing in what are regarded as white neighborhoods, but whatever
blame there may be should be properly apportioned. The white
property owner and real estate dealer control the situation. No
Negro can buy unless the white owner or dealer is willing to sell.

"When the cityward movement of the Negro received its great-
est impetus during the World War, sundry municipalities sought
to fix bounds of racial residence by city ordinance. Hitherto the
matter had been handled by real estate dealers, who came to a
general understanding whereby colored people would be excluded
from certain prescribed areas and allowed to occupy others. In
many instances the owners in certain blocks, subdivisions or sec-
tions would enter into covenants among themselves not to rent or
sell to Negroes. Nevertheless, real estate dealers and owners
could not be relied upon to abide by their gentlemen's agreement
in the face of a tempting offer from a colored client, and the cove-
nant among brokers broke down. Race prejudice, lacking the
strength and stubbornness to enforce its own decrees, sought pro-
tection of the law.

"The classic attempt in this direction was made by the City of
Louisville, Ky., which passed an ordinance forbidding colored
persons from occupying houses as residences or places of abode,
or publicly assembling in blocks where the majority of houses
were occupied by white persons, and in like manner forbidding
white persons when the conditions as to occupancy were reversed,
the interdiction being based upon color and nothing more. The
United States Supreme Court unanimously decided that such
ordinances passed by a state or municipality were in violation of
the Fourteenth Amendment of the Federal Constitution. This
settled the legal aspect of segregation based wholly upon race or
color. But social forces laugh at laws. The decision of the
Supreme Court had no appreciable effect. Since this judgment,
which was rendered immediately before America entered the
World War, Harlem has grown by leaps and bounds. The Negro
population of our large cities, especially in the North, has more
than doubled. Practically all of them have been confined within
prescribed limits. The process goes on as effectively without the
law as with it. New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Cleveland

212 NEGRO HOUSING

furnish the largest and most complete instances of segregation on
record; and yet it is without the faintest suggestion of legal
sanction.

"After the decision of the Supreme Court various municipali-
ties fell back upon the reliance of covenants or gentlemen's agree-
ments to preserve the racial integrity of specified blocks, sections,
and subdivisions. If no covenanter violated his agreement, no
Negro could ever invade the forbidden preserves. But here again
the thirst for gold asserted its power. These covenants became
mere scraps of paper.

". . . In 1926 the National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People undertook to test the legality of these covenants
by carrying a case arising in Washington, D. C., to the United
States Supreme Court. There were at that time as many as seven-
teen cities in different parts of the country with covenants of like
purport, some of them aiming at Italians and Jews. The Supreme
Court unanimously sustained the judgment of the lower courts to
the effect that these covenants had the legal force of contracts and
did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment. This case was an
apparent victory for the covenanters and legalized segregation,
but in the long run it will be found that, though it may modify the
direction, it will not affect the volume of segregation. Covenants
entered into by common agreement are cancelled by common con-
sent. The very block that was the subject of the test case in
Washington is now occupied by Negroes, in uncontested tenancy,
although the court decision forbids persons of Negro blood to buy
or live in that block for a period of twenty-one years. Nor is the
legal aspect of the victory final. The decision of the Supreme
Court suggested a loophole through which the matter might be
brought up for further adjudication. The next case which the
Negroes will take to the Supreme Court will hinge upon the
alienability of property rather than the rights of the race under
the Fourteenth Amendment.

"Unfortunately, segregation is begetting ill-will between the
races. The ordinary white citizen, who had never thought of the
Negro except remotely as a being to be helped, pitied or ignored,
when forced out of his home by Negro encroachment develops an
antagonistic and bitter spirit. The Negro is developing his own
business enterprises to meet the needs of a segregated population.
Until now this development has been disappointingly slow, but

STUDIES OF NEGRO HOUSING — SEGREGATION 213

whatever business energy the race displays is found in these areas.
At one time, the Negro developed certain forms of business which
catered exclusively to white patrons, such as barber shops, restau-
rants, catering and livery stables, but under modern competition
such undertakings have become almost wholly a thing of the past.
Every Negro community in our large cities has business streets
where one sees encouraging indications of Negro business in the
future. Strangely enough, in this respect, Harlem, the largest
instance of segregation, lags far behind most other cities.

"Whatever political power the Negro exerts is derived from
segregation. In several of the large cities, such as New York,
Philadelphia, Chicago, and Cleveland, he elects one or more mem-
bers of the city council and sometimes a member of the state legis-
lature as a result of his localized vote. A strong professional
class has been developed. The Negro preacher administers ex-
clusively to colored parishioners. The physician has almost a
monopoly of colored patients. More and more the Negro teachers
are being assigned to colored pupils in the public schools. The
Negro has established his own dance halls, theatres, and places
of amusement. But the greatest marvel is seen in the rapid
acquisition of property. In Harlem, where the bulk of population
lives in flats and the rent of individual homes is almost prohibitive,
this tendency to ownership is not so apparent; but in cities like
Baltimore, Washington, and Chicago the Negroes in large part
own or are purchasing their own homes in the segregated sections.
But nowhere do we discover that the race is developing industrial
and economic self-sufficiency. There is little or no surplus capital.
There is all but complete reliance upon the whites for employment
and means of livelihood.

"The destiny of the Negro population in large cities is clearly
foreshadowed. The Negro is to live and move and have his social
being in areas apart from the whites. About this it is needless to
argue or debate, but merely to observe. The border skirmishes
to determine the fixity or fluidity of the boundaries will be largely
a question of supply and demand. Real estate dealers will pay
more attention to providing housing accommodations for colored
people suitable to their tastes and means of maintenance and thus
relieve the points of pressure. The few wealthier colored men will
not find it necessary to move beyond the racial boundaries in
order to secure residences suitable to their financial ability and

214 NEGRO HOUSING

taste. A tacit understanding, though perhaps not a formal agree-
ment, will be reached, honorable and satisfactory to both white
and black, upon whose mutual good-will and cooperation the wel-
fare of our cities and of our nation depends." pp. 827-831.

* * *

The Negro Protests Against Ghetto Conditions9

"In substance Dr. Kelly Miller postulates as 'beyond the pale'
of argument certain beliefs of white men; urges resignation in
face of the 'inevitability of social forces,' i.e., lawlessness, 'which
laughs at law,' and proposes acceptance of what he erects into the
'destiny' of the Negro in America, which is to live in ghettos, pur-
suant to tacit understanding, illegal but nevertheless 'honorable
and satisfactory to both white and black.'

"To bolster up his position Dr. Miller deals arbitrarily with the
entire series of legal victories against segregation. He admits the
Louisville segregation case, won in 1917 before the Supreme Court
by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People, forever outlawed state or municipal enactments establish-
ing segregated residential districts. Then he says this unanimous
decision of the Supreme Court 'had no appreciable effect on the
fact of segregation/ Is Dr. Miller ignorant of the fact that had
the decision gone the other way there is not an American city
with large Negro population in which segregation ordinances would
not have been pushed and probably enacted ?

"The second step, the Sweet case in Detroit, also fought by the
N. A. A. C. P. and won by its attorney, Clarence Darrow, went
beyond the civil aspects of segregation by law and established the
Negro's right to protect himself against segregation by mob. Dr.
Miller, on the strength of a 'visit' to Detroit, asserts the Sweet case
did not involve segregation and that it 'had not the slightest effect'
upon the segregation movement. Judge Ira W. Jayne of the
Wayne County Circuit Court, who has the advantage of living in
Detroit and of being familiar with the situation, informs me that
'the Sweet trial has been of great educational value in teaching
tolerance, the tragedy of mob spirit, and the need for Negro
housing.' Race relations, Judge Jayne continues, are now more
amicable than they have been since the migration began and the

9 By Herbert J. Seligmann, National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People.

STUDIES OF NEGRO HOUSING — SEGREGATION 215

'police problem is much relieved.' Since the trial there have been
no attacks upon Negro residents of districts predominantly white,
although before the trial there were a number of such attacks and
one reputable colored doctor was driven from his home. The peo-
ple of Detroit now realize that 85,000 colored people cannot be
crowded in the space occupied by 8,000 before the World War.
At least three competent observers, one of them M. L. Walker,
a prominent colored citizen of Detroit, bear out Judge Jayne's
observations. Nor has the lesson been lost on other cities.

"In commenting on the Washington case, the third step in the
legal attack upon segregation, Dr. Miller fails to say that the
Supreme Court in 1926 declared its lack of jurisdiction and went
out of its way to indicate the opportunity for further cases. Three
cases are now in preparation to test conclusively the question of
segregation by property owners' agreement.

"The Louisville case killed segregation enactments by city or
state. The Detroit case was a fatal blow to segregation by mob.
A victory in the three cases now in preparation would complete
the circle by outlawing property owners' writing their own segre-
gation laws into private agreements. Having minimized the effec-
tiveness of legal victories against segregation, Dr. Miller, to prove
the case, draws an inaccurate picture of the status of city-dwelling
Negroes. In Harlem, for example, he claims they are set off from
whites by a line of demarcation as sharp as if cut by a knife; the
tendency to home ownership there is 'not apparent,' and he adds
that nowhere 'do we discover' that the race is developing 'indus-
trial and economic self-sufficiency.'

"What are the facts ? In border streets of Harlem colored peo-
ple and white live side by side. They do so elsewhere in New York
City. They do so without friction throughout the North and even
in the South, except where such friction is fomented. Both races
have even tenanted amicably the same apartment houses in Harlem.
Dr. Miller's imaginary knife line has no counterpart in reality.
Even as theory such separation becomes absurd. In any city hous-
ing both races they must somewhere live in contact, unless it pro-
poses to establish a no man's land patrolled by armed sentries.

"... As for the tendency to home ownership being not ap-
parent in Harlem, perhaps that is because Dr. Miller failed to
inform himself. John E. Nail, a member of the real estate firm
of Nail and Parker, estimates the colored holding of real estate

216 NEGRO HOUSING

in Harlem at more than $60,000,000 including many apartment
houses as well as private dwellings. In one year Negroes are
reported to have taken title to $5,000,000 in New York real
estate, most of it in Harlem, making cash payments of $1,000,000.

"In view of there being every form of service in Harlem from
theatres to restaurants and all manner of small shops, Dr. Miller's
failure to discover 'any tendency' of the race to develop industrial
and economic self-sufficiency seems strange. Of course, if this
phrase 'self-sufficiency' be taken literally, the statement becomes
absurd. No race or group living in the midst of another group
ever developed absolute self-sufficiency. Dr. Miller admits weak-
ness of his own statement when he writes : 'The same might, of
course, be said of the great bulk of the white race.' Measured
by any ordinary standard of progress, economic, and commercial,
as well as cultural, the development of the Negro has been and
continues to be extraordinary.

"Dr. Miller's attitude toward race problems accords with his
presentation of facts. He indulges in loose statements, for ex-
ample, that 'the Negro problem has become more instant and
urgent in the North than in the South,' a statement any intelligent
Negro south of the Mason and Dixon line would ridicule. He
states unequivocally that 'the white man deems social assimilability
impossible.' If this be true, why the agitation about it and the
controversial literature ? He accepts as beyond argument a criterion
for white men, which many of them would repudiate, namely,
that 'intermarriageability is the acid test for good neighborhood,'
and uses that statement to bolster his case. In effect, he cham-
pions segregation on this ground, ignoring the fact that most peo-
ple living in large cities make no effort to know their neighbors,
or even those living in the same building. He asserts un-
equivocally of certain Negro groups that for them 'no form of
racial separation is tolerable,' when, in fact, it is enforced and not
voluntary separation that is in question. No rational Negro quar-
rels with the tendency, natural or acquired, of individuals to live
among their own group, provided the choice is free. Negroes as
a group have no more desire to live among whites than whites
have to live among Negroes. But individual Negroes who prosper
do want decent homes, in decent districts, decently lighted, policed,

STUDIES OF NEGRO HOUSING — SEGREGATION 217

paved and served with schools, water and sewer; and all Negroes
know that enforcement of segregation, whether or not by tacit
agreement, means inferior accommodation at exorbitant rents,
just as in the South the Jim Crow cars, theoretically 'equal accom-
modation/ are in effect for the most part disgraceful denial of
decency, cleanliness and comfort for travel.

"A fundamental which Dr. Miller entirely loses from sight is
that the Negro as an American citizen has no choice except to fight
segregation to the last ditch. To accept it would be to brand him-
self as inferior and to accept permanent impairment of his status
as a citizen." pp. 831-833.10

Zoning

"The increasing acceptance of zoning plans as a means of regulating city
growth scientifically has brought up the inevitable question regarding the
status of Negro residents in the scheme. Several cities have already at-
tempted to incorporate in the general plan a subsidiary one aimed at the
residential segregation of Negroes. We have asked an expert on zoning to
define its principles and the relation of this scheme to the question of Negro
residents and Negro residence areas where they exist. — Editor." {Oppor-
tunity.}

"When our Federal Constitution was in the making, George
Washington sat as arbiter between two strong men, representing
two theories of government. Alexander Hamilton stood for the
concentration of power in a central governing body. Thomas
Jefferson stood for individual rights. Out of discussions and
compromises was born our Constitution, with its first ten amend-
ments which we call our 'Bill of Rights.' After more than a
century the opposing theories still are discussed and compromised
in popular arguments for individual liberty, in the claims of cities
for a greater measure of home rule than the states are willing
to grant them, and in the arguments of the states against growing
Federal control.

"The two theories are summed up in two clauses. Individual
liberty is expressed by 'nor be deprived of life, liberty, or prop-
erty, without due process of law/ The opposing right, the right
of the community to pass laws and ordinances to protect 'health,
safety, morals and general welfare' has gradually modified this so-

10 Miller, Kelly, and Seligmann, Herbert G., "Separate Communities for
Negroes— Two Points of View," Current History, March, 1927. Vol. 25,
pp. 827-833.

218 NEGRO HOUSING

called individual liberty, giving protection to all citizens equally.

"So men still argue that every man's house is his castle, and that
property rights give entire control of everything within the
boundaries of any plot of land down through to China and up
to the sky. Most men, however, have been convinced by common
sense and experience that many individual preferences must be
surrendered for the common good. Four thousand years ago,
Confucius, the wise man of Shantung, said: 'The value of thy
house dependeth on thy neighbor.' Problems of 'health, safety,
morals and general welfare' make the old adage apply with great
force to every piece of property in a city where overcrowded
streets, land and houses compel the observance of laws which
restrict, but at the same time give protection.

"After trying with indifferent success to solve the problems of
city congestion of streets, land, and houses through rapid transit,
through breathing spaces in parks and playgrounds, through build-
ing code restrictions, and health ordinances, and through control
of height of buildings, municipalities are now at work on zoning
plans, which affect every piece of property in the city. Maps are
made a part of the city plan, establishing zones in which

1. The use of buildings,

2. The height to which they may be erected, and

3. The area of the lot which they may cover,

are fixed by law.

"When zoning maps are made a part of the ordinances, no
longer may an owner build a public garage, or a wet wash laundry
in a residence district. Factories are made good neighbors to
each other, but forbidden to invade commercial or residential dis-
tricts. The districts vary in size, and in location, following natural
tendencies of the growth of the city. The result is a city which is
as orderly as a well planned house, and where the necessary activi-
ties of industry, of commerce, and of family life, each has its
appointed place. Property values are stabilized, public utilities
are adapted to the specific use for which they are needed, and all
property is protected by law in its use and development.

"Zoning regulations apply to future buildings only, but so rapid
is growth and rebuilding in our American cities, that a genera-
tion will bring almost a complete change, and a city with a prop-
erly made zone plan will grow into it.

STUDIES OF NEGRO HOUSING — SEGREGATION 219

"One of the charges most commonly made against a zoning
plan is that it takes away property rights 'without due process of
law.' Probably every community reform brought about under
the police power of states which gives them the right of passing
laws for the 'health, safety, morals and general welfare' of all its
citizens, has met the same charge. As soon as people commence
to live in groups, it immediately develops that one owner of land
cannot be allowed to please himself, if he injures his neighbor. A
water supply from wells, easily contaminated, is early replaced
by a pure water supply, municipally controlled. Sewers permit
the proper disposal of wastes, and the abolishment of out-door
closets. The nuisance of scattered garbage and other debris leads
to regular collections. Building codes compel safety of con-
struction.

"Health ordinances include light and ventilation of rooms, water
supply and indoor toilets, and take little account of individual
rights, when the health officer nails up a colored card telling of
infectious disease and establishing a quarantine. Fire limits are
arbitrary, but the lines are accepted as a necessity. Frontage con-
sents control certain industries which make objectionable noises,
smells, or even which create a moral hazard, as did saloons.

"But local ordinances and state laws which prohibit, have
proved insufficient. We must have a new formula for solving our
city problems. A zoning plan is a factor in this formula, for it
deals directly with all the real property in a city. By establishing
varied districts, varied in size, in all parts of a city, for the loca-
tion of industry, commerce and homes it gives equal opportunity
to property owners, and yet safeguards the general welfare of all.
It tends to make business property values more stable, and to pro-
mote home owning because the investment of savings is protected,
and the gamble is taken out.

"The need for a city plan, with a zoning plan included grows
naturally out of the increasing need for control of transportation,
streets, parks, and playgrounds, public utilities, and all activities
of city life. The city plan movement was well under way in
1907, and in 1910, zoning plans came up for discussion. In 1922,
about 50 cities had zoning plans in operation, or almost ready for
passage, and more than 150 cities and towns were making prelimi-
nary studies. The danger is that what seems to be a remedy,
may be injudiciously or carelessly applied, through inadequate

220 NEGRO HOUSING

study of the real needs, and the best way of applying the
regulations.

"Our first zoning ordinance was adopted by New York City on
July 25th, 1916, after careful studies had been made for five
years. It is called a 'Building Zone Resolution/ and defines its
purpose as follows:

" 'A Resolution regulating and limiting the height and bulk of buildings
hereafter erected, and regulating and determining the areas of courts, yards
and other open spaces, and regulating and restricting the location of trades
and industries and the location of buildings designed for specified uses and
establishing the boundaries of districts for said purposes.'

"Each phrase of that very compact paragraph has been the title
of an explanatory article, of discussions, and of controversy. It
introduces new interpretation of the right of the state under its
police power, to grant to cities the power to regulate private prop-
erty in its uses, its development, and its neighbors, whether fac-
tories, stores, or homes. Control of private property for the
'health, safety, morals and general welfare' of the whole com-
munity, cannot be arbitrary, retroactive, nor confiscatory. But
so obvious are the benefits, and up to the present time, so wisely
have been the limitations imposed, that the courts have sustained
zoning plans, and the power to make this new kind of regulations.

"So rapid has been the growth of the movement, that Mr.
Hoover has appointed an Advisory Committee on Zoning, for the
Department of Commerce. In a pamphlet called 'A Zoning
Primer' this committee answers the question 'What is Zoning?'
In part they say:

" 'Zoning is the application of common sense and fairness to the public
regulations governing the use of private real estate . . . Zoning gives every-
one who lives or does business in a community a chance for the reasonable
enjoyment of his rights . . .'

"Mr. Charles Bostrom, Chairman of the Chicago Zoning Com-
mission, sums up zoning in these words :

" 'By proper zoning, there will be a place for all, and it will create better
order, as well as increase property value and stabilize it.'

"While every phase of these varied definitions and explana-
tions furnishes a text for an entire article, we must sum up
shortly. The key words are regulation of height, area and use of

STUDIES OF NEGRO HOUSING — SEGREGATION 221

buildings; control of buildings hereafter erected; protection of
every property owner ; and stabilizing of property values.

"It is natural that with so great an increase of the use of the
police power of the state in regulating 'health, safety, morals and
general welfare,' discussion should arise as to the segregation of
the races through the same agency. Several southern cities had
already passed ordinances to the effect that in any block where a
half, or in one case, the whole of any block was occupied by white
families, or by colored families, the whole block should become
white or colored. The Louisville ordinance is typical and as it has
been carried for decision to the Supreme Court, a brief outline
will be of interest, as it sets a precedent. Under this decision of
our Supreme Court, it seems probable that no zoning plan which
carried a like provision, would be maintained in the courts.

"Mr. Justice Day delivered the opinion of the Supreme Court
in the case of Buchanan v. Warley, 2^5 U. S. 60 . . .

". . . Simply stated the case is this. A white man sold a
negro a lot on which to build a home. Under the Louisville
ordinance (approved May 11, 1914) he could not build, as eight
of the families in the block were white, and two colored. He
refused to complete the contract and pay for the lot. Suit was
brought and the ordinance held valid in the Kentucky courts.
Appeal was taken to the United States Supreme Court.

"The Syllabus of the Supreme Court decision states:

" 'A city ordinance which forbids colored persons to occupy
houses in blocks where the greater number of houses are occupied
by white persons, in practical effect prevents the sale of such lots
in such blocks to colored persons, and is unconstitutional . . .

" 'A city ordinance forbidding colored persons from occupying houses as
residences, or places of abode or public assembly, on blocks where the
majority of the houses are occupied by white persons for those purposes,
and in like manner forbidding white persons when conditions of occupancy
are reversed, and which bases the interdiction on color and nothing more,
passes the legitimate bounds of police power and invades the civil right to
acquire, enjoy and use property, which is guaranteed in equal measure to all
citizens, white or colored, by the Fourteenth Amendment.

" 'Such a prohibition cannot be sustained upon the grounds that, through
race segregation, it serves to diminish miscegenation and promote the public
peace by averting race hostility and conflict, or that it prevents deterioration
in the value of property owned and occupied by white people; nor does the
fact that upon its face it applies impartially to both races relieve it from the

222 NEGRO HOUSING

vice of discrimination or obviate the objection that it deprives of property
without due process of law. 165 Kentucky 559, reversed.'

"In stating the opinion of the Supreme Court, Mr. Justice
Day said:

" The authority of the state to pass laws in the exercise of the police
power, having for their object the promotion of the public health, safety
and welfare is very broad as has been affirmed in numerous and recent
decisions of this Court . . . But it is equally well established that the
police power, broad as it is, cannot justify the passage of a law or ordinance
which runs counter to the Constitution . . .

" 'The Constitution is the supreme law of the land. The Fourteenth
Amendment protects life, liberty, and property from invasion by the states
without due process of law. Property is more than the mere thing which
the person owns. It is elementary that it includes the right to acquire, use,
and dispose of it. The Constitution protects these essential attributes of
property . . .

" True it is that the dominion over property springing from ownership
is not absolute and unqualified. It ... may be controlled in the exercise of
the police power in the interest of public health, convenience, or wel-
fare . . . The concrete question here is, may the occupancy of property be
invaded by the states, or by one of its municipalities.'

"Justice Day then discusses at length the amendments after the
Civil War, and the reasons for their adoption. He makes the
point that while the principal purpose was to protect persons of
color, the broad language used was deemed sufficient to protect all
persons, white or black, against discriminating legislation by the
states. This is now the settled law. He concludes :

" 'We think this attempt to prevent the alienation of the property in ques-
tion to a person of color was not a legitimate exercise of the police power
of the state, and is in direct violation of the fundamental law enacted in the
Fourteenth Amendment . . .'

"The precedent is clear, and similar ordinances passed in Bal-
timore,* in Atlanta, and other southern cities, while not carried
to the Supreme Court were voided after this decision. It is also
clear that any zoning plan, which might go beyond the proper
exercise of the police power for the general health, safety, morals
and welfare, would be subject to a like decision from the Supreme
Court.

"The arguments for and against ordinances which attempt to

* See Jackson v. State, 132 Md. (1918) 311; and Cary v. Atlanta,
143 Ga. 192.

STUDIES OF NEGRO HOUSING — SEGREGATION 223

segregate white and colored, are indicative of the problems which
suggest them. The principal contention is that when the pro-
hibition applies equally to white persons in blocks where colored
persons predominate or the opposite, there is no discrimination.
But exceptions immediately become desirable. For instance, the
Atlanta ordinance provided:

'that nothing in either of the preceding sections shall be construed or defined
to prevent domestic servants from residing in the house, or building,
wherein they are employed, or upon the same lots with the houses or
buildings which they serve.'

"It is argued that such an ordinance does not interfere with
ownership, but merely regulates the occupancy of the property.

"It is argued that every police regulation necessarily restrains,
limits or destroys certain personal or property rights, or both, but
that this does not make the law unequal in the legal sense, as the
inequalities arise from matters with which the law has no concern,
such as geographical location, economic or educational condi-
tions, etc.

"Railroad, street car, and school regulations were cited in many
cases which had been taken into various courts, but the Supreme
Court ruled that they did not apply.

"In any city which is considering a zoning ordinance, the matter
is of deep interest to Negroes. Whether they own property or
not, they are concerned with the uses of the districts in which they
live, and of the surrounding districts. ' The whole movement is
new, its technique is in the making, and since a zoning plan when
it is enacted affects every piece of property, it also affects every
citizen in his home surroundings, and in his working conditions.
If our cities are to overcome the evils of congestion, of fluctuations
of property values, it is of concern to every citizen to study the
zoning plans, and know exactly what they will do. A zoning plan
affords security in property owning to the poor man, which the
rich man has provided for himself through private restrictions and
large expenditures. It puts money into the savings of workers,
and is well worth a little time spent in keeping in touch with the
authorities who are charged with the preparation of the basic
maps. After the ordinance is passed, it is too late/' xl

11 Headley, Madge, "Citizen Rights and Community Rights," Opportunity,
January, 1923, Vol. 1, pp. 12-14.

224 NEGRO HOUSING

Rural Segregation

"Mr. Clarence Poe, editor of the Progressive Farmer, has lately
been advocating the enactment of a statute by the General As-
sembly of North Carolina providing that, wherever the greatest
part of the land acreage in any given district is owned by one
race, a majority of the voters in such a district may say that in
the future no land shall be sold to a person of a different race,
provided such action is approved or allowed by a reviewing judge
or board of county commissioners.

"The statute that Mr. Poe suggests would not impose segrega-
tion upon any district but, like the Virginia city segregation statute,
would simply enable any given district, so desiring, to promote the
segregation of the races. Nor would action by any district under
this enabling statute necessarily mean actual segregation. Sup-
pose, for instance, a given district should vote that no additional
land should be sold to Negroes. The Negro landowners in that
community would be permitted to hold on to their property during
their life and leave it to their heirs at death. The colored tenants
could, in so far as the law provided, remain indefinitely on the
land, and the white landowners might still rent their land to colored
tenants. There is no intimation as to the size of the district,
whether it would be the size of a local school-tax district or of a
township or a county or of a larger area. This, presumably,
would be left entirely with the voters ... p. 107.

"The legal and constitutional issues involved in segregation are
not to be considered in this article. ... If rural segregation, after
the plan suggested, is right in principle, then it will be possible
to frame a statute that will conform to constitutional limitations.
If, on the other hand, it is not right in principle, then the fact
that a statute can be drawn to satisfy the constitution would not
justify its adoption. In other words, the more important question
about a segregation statute is not whether it is constitutional but
whether it is just.

"If in the matter of segregation one had only to consider the
industrial and social welfare of the white farmers, then one set
of issues would arise. But segregation has a moral aspect as well
as an industrial and social aspect, and the welfare of the colored
people as well as of the white has to be considered, which con-
siderably modifies these issues. If segregation cannot be justified

STUDIES OF NEGRO HOUSING — SEGREGATION 225

as being morally right and for the best interests of both races,
then it cannot be justified as being sound, in the long run, either
in its economic or in its social aspects . . . pp. 108-109.

"If the next General Assembly were to enact an enabling statute
and then some community in North Carolina were to take action
under it, one of two things would happen as regards the Negroes
already on the land. As landowners or as tenants, they would
either live on there as heretofore or else they would move into
some other community. The latter course is what the advocates
of segregation would expect the Negroes to adopt . . . pp. 110-
111.

"If the removal of the Negroes from the segregation district
would mean the coming of desirable white settlers, then the in-
dustrial advantages claimed would, no doubt, follow. But it is
very doubtful if even the removal of the Negro altogether from
the South would attract an appreciable number of desirable white
settlers. The immigration statistics show that the majority of our
immigrants now are not such as would be absorbed into the
white life of the South. The immigrants actually coming are
more illiterate and, in many cases, as superstitious as the Negroes
themselves. Would such immigrants, whom we do not need, or
better ones, whom we do need, be willing to move into a com-
munity that had by legislation said that one element of its popula-
tion could not buy or own land except under certain conditions?
. . . p. 111.

"But suppose segregation did not result in the Negro's with-
drawal from the white community. Suppose the Negro land-
owner determined to live the balance of his days on his land and
then hand it down to his children and the Negro tenant gave up
any idea he might have had of acquiring land of his own. Such
an action on the part of the resident Negroes in the white com-
munity would absolutely frustrate the efforts of the white people
to obtain the benefits argued for segregation. The social life of
the white people would not be more satisfactory. The cooperative
efforts would still be handicapped. Every harm that the presence
of the Negro in the community now causes would be augmented
then because the Negro tenant, with all incentive to accumulate
property taken away from him, would become more thriftless and
trifling than ever . . . p. 112.

"The effect of segregation by legislation upon the relations be-

226 NEGRO HOUSING

tween the races would probably be more portentous than that
upon the industrial or moral life of either race. Race prejudice
would certainly be aroused by the agitation that would be necessary
to get an enabling act passed by our General Assembly. The
larger landholders of the state, who deserve some consideration
even if not as much as the more numerous class of small farmers,
would oppose it on the ground that it would interfere with their
labor supply. Other white people would oppose it because they
would believe it morally wrong in that it would not be giving
the Negro a square deal. The whole country outside of the South
would side with the Negro and put the state in the light of having
disfranchized the Negro in order to perpetrate discriminations
against him.

"A different sort of race feeling would be aroused by rural
segregation agitation than by any previous legislation. Hereto-
fore race legislation has been statewide. Witness the suffrage
amendment, the separate school and the Jim Crow laws. But in
the case of segregation each community would have to take action
for itself. The white farmers of a neighborhood would decide
that they would not let any more colored farmers buy land in that
neighborhood. Thus the white people and Negroes who have been
living side by side in amicable relations all their lives would find
themselves arrayed in opposing camps. The most bitter feeling in
the world is that of one individual against another individual.
The next most bitter feeling is that of one family against another
as shown by the Kentucky feuds that last for generations. And
the next in the order of intensity is a neighborhood hostility. So
long as the white people as a race have their feelings aroused
against the colored people as a race, this impersonal hostility is
not apt to cause any combustion. When the white people and the
colored people of any single neighborhood are arrayed on opposite
sides in a race issue, then a consuming flame of race feeling is apt
to start. The truth of this is shown by every race riot and every
instance of mob violence in the history of the country. It has
started by some individual or some group of individuals doing
something to displease the other race. Because segregation would,
in the end, be a neighborhood affair, race feeling would be all the
more bitter. If segregation meant that the Negroes were to be
taken bodily out of the community and carried to a place where
they would never be heard of any more, the race feeling might

STUDIES OF NEGRO HOUSING — SEGREGATION 227

be tolerable. But under the suggested plan the Negroes would
simply be urged to congregate in a community to themselves lying
alongside the white community where the passions of the criminal
and vicious element of both races would be fed by the sight of
each other . . . pp. 114-115.

"This is probably the most delicate race issue that has arisen
since Emancipation because it involves fundamental rights. Vot-
ing, for instance, is a privilege ; but the right to hold property is
inherent in citizenship and should not be tampered with without
great caution.

"I am heartily in favor of the next General Assembly's creating
a commission to investigate rural race problems. Such a com-
mission would probably have been created by the last legislature
if the bodies urging its creation had not already unanimously
committed themselves to the policy of segregation. In other
words, they announced their conclusion before they had waited
for an investigation. An impartial investigation may show that
the white people are not leaving their farms because of the pres-
ence of the Negro or that segregation is not the best way of reduc-
ing race relations to a proper and permanent basis. Let us, there-
fore, have a complete and accurate diagnosis before we prescribe
such a drastic remedy as rural segregation by legislation."

pp. 116-117.12

* * * * *

"In the April issue of The South Atlantic Quarterly, my friend,
Mr. Gilbert T. Stephenson, presents some objections to the plan
for land segregation between the races that I have been advocat-
ing and which was unanimously endorsed by the last meeting of
the North Carolina State Farmers' Union ... p. 207.

"And yet I must say that nearly a year of discussion and
criticism has only convinced me of the essential soundness of the
plan I first formally outlined last August, namely :

'That wherever the greater part of the land acreage in any given district
that may be laid off is owned by one race a majority of the voters in such
a district should have the right to say, if they wish, that in future no land
shall be sold to a person of a different race — provided such action is approved
or allowed (as* being justified by considerations of the peace, protection and

12 Stephenson, Gilbert T., "The Segregation of the White and Negro Races
in Rural Communities of North Carolina," The South Atlantic Quarterly,
April, 1914, Vol. 13, pp. 107-117.

228 NEGRO HOUSING

social life of the community) by a reviewing judge or board of county com-
missioners.'

"The proposition, in fact, looks rather to white segregation than
Negro segregation, providing only that where Negroes cease to
become laborers or renters and become independent land owners
working for themselves, they should buy land in communities to
themselves — or at least apart from those communities which are,
and wish to remain, predominantly white.

"Seven reasons I have given for favoring the plan may also be
briefly repeated :

1. Because it is necessary to give our white farmers and their families
a satisfying social life.

2. Because it will insure them greater safety and protection.

3. Because it will give both races better schools, churches, and all the
agencies of a richer community life.

4. Because it will open the way to both races for rural cooperation and
cooperative enterprises — work in which it is almost impossible for whites
and blacks to work together successfully.

5. Because it will improve moral conditions in the relations of the races.

6. Because it will give the rural South what it most sorely needs — a
greater proportion of white people, (1) by stopping the crowding out of
the white farmers by Negroes, and (2) by providing all-white communi-
ties such as white people from other sections will be willing to move into.

7. Because ambitious young white men will then be willing to go into
these all-white communities as tenants, work and save, and become good
farmers and good citizens, whereas they are unwilling to go into mixed
communities and compete with Negro tenants.

"As to the question why a law is needed, instead of leaving the
whole matter to be settled by public opinion, that is also quickly
answered. We need a law

1. So as to let each race know definitely its own bounds and therefore
better respect the rights of the other race; and

2. To protect white communities from the white landlord who lives away
from the community and doesn't care how many Negroes he sells land to
— simply because he doesn't have to live among them himself and doesn't
care about anybody else's condition ... p. 208.

"The chief point at which I have been misunderstood and the
chief point at which Mr. Stephenson misunderstands me is in my
attitude toward the Negro — the motive of this land segregation
movement . . . My whole aim in this matter has been to develop
a constructive policy to the help of the white man and not a
destructive policy to the hurt of the Negro ... p. 209.

STUDIES OF NEGRO HOUSING — SEGREGATION 229

"But — and here comes the rub — I also believe in helping and
being just to the working white man of the South whose ancestors
through centuries of toil wrought out the civilization which we
enjoy — the civilization, moreover, to which the Negro himself
owes the very peace, safety, and prosperity he enjoys. And years
of earnest study have convinced me that all in all the handicapped
man, the disadvantaged man, in the rural South today is not the
Negro, but the laboring white man who must compete industrially
with a race with lower living standards and whose white social
life is impoverished if not imperilled by the universal sandwiching
of white and Negro homes. This is the situation that confronts
us. The Negroes not only have an advantage over the white
farmer in that they are able to buy land and make crops on a
scale of living, clothing, and housing that the respectable white
farmer and his family cannot meet, but the Negroes have the addi-
tional advantage that where Negroes begin to outnumber the
whites, or are of bad character, the whites may be forced to sur-
render the whole community to the Negroes because there is no
longer an adequate white social life or else for reasons of safety.
This has happened in thousands of cases.

"Let us consider conditions briefly. Booker Washington him-
self boasts that in every southern state east of the Mississippi,
except Florida, the percentage of Negroes on the farms is increas-
ing: The Negroes are gaining on the whites proportionately and
rural districts are becoming blacker instead of whiter. More-
over, not only are the rural sections of the South getting blacker
instead of whiter but the Negroes are gaining most rapidly in
farm ownership, 17 per cent gain in Negro ownership to 12 per
cent in white, while — most sinister fact of all — it is the white
farmers who are fastest becoming a tenant class (188,000 gain
in white tenants or 27 per cent, and only 118,000 gain in Negro
tenants or 21 per cent).

"Now if the Negroes were gaining this advantage by virtue of
a superior character and civilization, we should have no word of
protest. But they are not. They are gaining chiefly because they
are nearer the savage stage of man's development — because they
will live in shabbier houses, eat meaner food, wear dirtier clothes,
than men will do among whom the living standards of a white
civilization are maintained — and because new Negro landowners
crowd in among white farm families in districts without police

230 NEGRO HOUSING

protection and thus frequently force these white farmers to move
away. It's an unfair advantage — that is, if we assume that the
white man has a right to protect his civilization — and I say that
simply as a matter of fairness to the white man and not of unfair-
ness to the Negro, the best thought of the South should be given
to working out a remedy. We should give a reasonable propor-
tion of rural white communities, communities owned by our white
farmers and their families, the right to segregate themselves, the
right to say (under reasonable restrictions) that no more land in
such communities should be sold to Negroes — or else some other
solution must be found . . . pp. 209-210.

"The only man in the South today whose civilization and whose
future are really imperilled — mark my words — is the small white
farmer and white workingman." p. 21 1.13

13 Poe, Clarence, "Rural Land Segregation Between Whites and Negroes :
A Reply to Mr. Stephenson," The South Atlantic Quarterly, July, 1914, Vol.
13, pp. 207-212.

APPENDIX IV

EXTRACTS FROM STUDIES OF NEGRO
HOUSING— HOME OWNERSHIP

General

"Woofter and the Chicago Race Commission both found that
the migration and consequent scarcity of houses and high rents had
led to a marked increase in home ownership among Negroes in
the North . . ." p. 166.1

* * * * *

All Homes
Per Cent Owned 1920

39.5
12.7
27.0
34.8
34.5
41.9
25.9
36.7
29.8
32.2
28.9
40.4
23.1
20.2
29.8
27.5

"Several colored people here were reported as owning not only
the home in which they live but also other pieces of property
which are rented either to members of their own race or to others.
Several of the questionnaires returned made note of the fact that
the family was renting from a colored landlord." :

City Per

Philadelphia ,
New York
Chicago

Colored Homes
Cent Owned 1920

12.2
3.2
7.4
9.5
17.4
28.8
15.1
32.3
9.6
20.7
15.0
26.8
8.4
10.3
17.2
22.3

Gary

Indianapolis
Dayton

Richmond • •

Lynchburg

Lexington

Knoxville
New Orleans

Charleston

^^inston-Salem • •

Worcester .

1 Kennedy Louise Venable, The Negro Peasant Turns Cityward, New

^Mtf SeAfS
League,' Nw York, 1930.

232 NEGRO HOUSING

Chicago, Illinois

"Among these 467 families of unskilled wage earners, 130 fami-
lies owned or were buying their own homes. . . ." p. 111.3

See quotation from E. Franklin Frazier's The Negro Family in
Chicago in Chapter IV, p. 86.

Detroit, Michigan

"In the matter of home ownership 657 said 'that they did not
own their own homes/ 312 said 'yes* and 21 gave no answers. Of
the 312 owning their homes, 81 owned them free; 119 were on
contract; and 55 were mortgaged. Fifty-seven did not give the
type of ownership.

Value of Houses Owned by Negroes

$20,000 .................. 1 $5,000 .................... 27

15,000 ..................... 6 4,000 ..................... 22

10,000 .................... 23 3,000 ..................... 41

8,000 .................... 38 2,000 ..................... 26

7,000 ..................... 21 1,000 ..................... 23

6,000 ..................... 24 500 ................ ...... 3

The average value of the 255 houses given is $5,323." 4
New York, New York

"The following statement is indicative of the amount of real
property that has been acquired in Harlem: 'Fifteen years ago,
apparently one-half dozen colored men owned real property in
Manhattan, I am informed by John E. Nail, a successful colored
real estate man. in Harlem. Today, the Negro owned and operated
realty, conservatively estimated, would amount to $60,000,000.
However, the community faces a very unique difficulty. The
neighborhood is confronted with the question of mortgages matur-
ing. There is practically no opening to the community for re-

8 Houghteling, Leila, The Income and Standard of Living of Unskilled
Laborers in Chicago, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1927.

* The Negro in Detroit, Prepared for the Mayor's Interracial Committee,
Detroit Bureau of Governmental Research, Inc., 1926, (Mimeographed.)
(Section V, Housing.)

STUDIES OF NEGRO HOUSING — HOME OWNERSHIP 233

placement. Some time ago a local real estate manager informed
the community that heads of large lending institutions are desirous
of withdrawing their funds. When extensions are granted on
mortgages, their terms are of such a nature that they make them
burdensome for owners to carry the vital obligations. Years ago
it was understood that mortgage accommodations could not be
furnished in this section of the city, because in this community
the colored tenant was not a reliable purchaser of property. In
the past five years, however, he has become an owner and ac-
quired more property. It is estimated that 75 per cent of the real
estate in this community is under colored control. The prices
paid, however, have not always been fair. The housing shortage
affected the price of houses as well as the rental. Old and de-
teriorated houses shared in the increasing valuation, and found
purchasers who will have to struggle for years before they will
own their homes free from debt. Where at some stage in the
process a building which has formerly been closed to Negroes has
been offered to tenants of that race, the change in real estate rental
rates receives added explanation.

"Families have found that only by purchasing a home could
they be at all assured of a place in which to live at a cost which
would not be completely beyond their control or calculation." 5

Richmond, Virginia

"Unfortunately, the public records do not show the actual num-
ber of Negro-owned homes in Richmond. The Survey figures
show that in the Jackson Ward district substantially 18 per cent
are buyers or owners and 82 per cent renters. In the Fulton dis-
trict substantially 60 per cent are renters, and 40 per cent buyers
or owners. This may be restated for the two districts in the 1,036
families where the information was gotten, thus: Renters 787,
or 76 per cent — buyers or owners 249, or 24 per cent. From the
office of the City Commissioner of Revenue it was learned that
the value of white-owned property in Lee Ward is $81,789,710
and of Negro-owned property $828,980. As Lee Ward is the
legal designation for the district popularly referred td in Rich-

5 Reid, Ira DeA., Twenty-four Hundred Negro Families in Harlem, New
York, New York Urban League, 1927.

234 NEGRO HOUSING

mond as Jackson Ward, and as a large percentage of the survey
families actually lived in Lee Ward it may be seen at a glance that
much Negro rental property is white owned. No effort was made
to secure this particular information from the families interviewed
as it is well known that poor people are often behind in their rent
and are afraid to discuss their landlords with strangers. The
Knight study in 1927 showed renters 61 per cent and owners 39
per cent." pp. 71-72.6

Pennsylvania

Percentage of Home Ownership (Outright or Buying)
Among Negroes in Pennsylvania *

District Percentage

Pennsylvania as a whole ............................... ............ 36.4

Philadelphia ...................................................... 15

Pittsburgh ................................ . . ...................... 11

Steel Mills District No. 1 ........................................ 31

Pittsburgh District exclusive of Pittsburgh
Philadelphia District .............................................. 47.5

Norristown, etc.
Steel Mills District No. 2 ......................................... 13.2

Steel Mills District No. 4 ........................................ 34.5

Coatesville, Reading
Western Bituminous Coal District ....... ..... ....... ...... .... 38.5

Farrell, New Castle
Steel Mills District No. 3 ............... .......................... 10

Altoona, Johnstown
Central South Farm Area ........... ........ ......... ...... 13

York, etc.
Southwest Farm Area ............ . ____ ....... ..... .......... 37

Connellsville, Uniontown
Central Bituminous Coal District .................. .............. 17.7

Chambersburg
Anthracite Coal District .......... ......... . . . . ............... 13.3

Scranton, etc.
Slate and Cement District ....... ..... ....... .................. 7.5

Al lento wn, Bethlehem
Northern Tier ................ ......... ........... .............. 35.5

Erie, Bradford

* Survey by the Pennsylvania Department of Welfare, 1925.

"Of the Negro families of Pennsylvania investigated in this
survey 36.3 per cent owned or were buying their homes. The

8 "The Negro in Richmond, Virginia," Report of the Negro Welfare Sur-
vey Committee, Richmond Council of Social Agencies, 1929.

STUDIES OF NEGRO HOUSING — HOME OWNERSHIP 235

percentage of home ownership varies, of course, according to the
various districts.

"The Bureau of Census states that there were 30,995 Negro
families in Philadelphia in 1920. Of this number 26,984 oc-
cupied rented homes, and 3,278 owned the homes they occupied." 7

Washington, D. C.

"Negroes in Washington have always made prodigious efforts to
secure homes of their own, chiefly on account of the limited num-
ber of houses available and the insecurity involved in renting.
Homes for rent to Negroes are not as plentiful as they are for
white people ; nor can the renter be certain of always being able to
locate in desirable communities. Then, too, the rapid increases in
the Negro population in Washington during the past fifteen years
have enhanced this 'scramble' for homes. White real estate and
construction companies have readily responded to this home pur-
chasing impulse and have erected hundreds of new private homes
and apartments for colored people. These real estate companies
report the purchase price of the average home that is acquired by
Negroes is between $6,000 and $7,000. Many of the homes that
were purchased several years ago, when real estate values were
comparatively low, were secured for prices that ranged from $1,000
to $4,000. The average price of Type B homes is between $15,000
and $20,000. Five Negro property owners evaluated their homes
at $25,000 and thirteen at $20,000.

"The average initial cash payment on the $7,000 home is $500
with the monthly payments ranging from $50 to $65. The $10,-
000 home requires a cash payment of from $1,000 to $1,500 and
monthly payments of from $65 to $100.

"No small number of Negroes were found to have purchased
their homes at cash payments of from $7,000 to $10,000. They
were generally persons who had recently arrived from the South,
where they have conducted prosperous economic enterprises. . .
p. 127.

"The results of this survey indicate that ownership and renting
related not only to certain definite areas of the .city, but are closely
correlated with definite social blocks. And it is possible, there-
fore, to refer to certain blocks as those of 'home owners' or

7 Washington, Forrester B., Negro Survey of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg,
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 1927.

236 NEGRO HOUSING

'tenants.' In some of these social blocks, one block is solidly oc-
cupied by renters. This geographical distribution of renters and
owners is shown on the accompanying spot map.8

"For a city of its size, Washington has a rather high percentage
of home owners. The facts which were taken from a study of
5,450 homes show that 2,536 or 46.5 per cent, were owned or
were being purchased. Whereas, 2,914 or 53.4 per cent were
rented. The fact that approximately one-half of the homes oc-
cupied by Negroes, in the Northwest and Southwest sections of
the city, are owned by their occupants is a high commendation of
their thrift.

"The home purchasing movement appears to be concentrating
in the newer sections of the city, chiefly those sections into which
the Negro population is expanding. There is a relatively small
amount of property owned by Negroes in Georgetown and South-
west Washington. In general, the economic status of the Negroes
in these sections is much lower than that of the Northwest. In
the Northwest section, property values are generally higher than
they are in any other part of the city.

"Several of the homes in which Negro tenants are living are
owned by Negroes. This fact increases, by a considerable degree,
the number of homes having Negro ownership. The larger per-
centage of the rented homes, however, are the property of white
persons." p. 128.9

8 See Map V, op. cit.

9 Jones, William Henry, The Housing of Negroes in Washington, D. C.,
Washington, Howard University Press, 1929.

APPENDIX V

EXTRACTS FROM STUDIES OF NEGRO
HOUSING— HOUSING PROJECTS

Atlanta, Georgia

"(The late) Heman E. Perry, founder of Standard Life . . .
started a homebuilding program in First Ward on the West
Side. . . The plot contained originally 211 acres. In it have been
built about 511 homes costing from $3,000 to $15,000, the aver-
age home costing from $3,000 to $8,000. About 10 per cent of
the homes are brick. About 90 per cent of the streets in the
section are paved . . .

"Perry opened the subdivision in 1923. He sold lots for $350
without street improvements. The lots were 50 x 150 feet. The
plot is now about 35 per cent sold. The division is now the prop-
erty of the National Benefit Life Insurance Company.

"Perry sold the site to the Booker T. Washington High School
for a reputed sum of $32,000. The plot is now contained in 16
acres. The school is one of the most beautiful in the state for
Negroes, costing $360,000, and has an enrollment of 2,500. C. L.
Harper heads a faculty of sixty-eight.

"Not only did Negroes move from the southeast section of
Atlanta (Auburn Avenue section) to the west division, but promi-
nent Negroes from other cities in Georgia, and from other states
moved to Atlanta and built fine brick homes in the division . . ." 1

Baltimore, Maryland

"The housing situation in Baltimore does not present such acute
problems as exist in some other large cities because the migration
from the South has not been very large and the proportion of
dwelling houses in relation to inhabitants has been very high for
many years, and still remains so in spite of some reduction in the
supply of new homes. This means, as regards the Negroes, that
the sections in which they live need to be enlarged, that the homes
which are being vacated by whites who are moving to the suburbs
shall be made available for Negroes through assistance or pur-

1 Calvin, Floyd J., "Heman Perry Started Atlanta on its Home Building
Program " Pittsburgh Courier, October 31, 1931, p. 6, 1st section.

237

238 NEGRO HOUSING

chases, and that their present homes shall be improved in quality
and rentals so reduced that congestion may be lessened.

"To meet these needs a Commission from the Interracial Con-
ference formed a corporation with power to buy, sell, lease, man-
age, and build, adopting a title that would be familiar to residents
of Baltimore where building associations have long flourished,
The Homemakers' Building and Loan Association. To conform
to the law and avoid taxation it is strictly mutual, and stock is sold
on the usual instalment plan or is fully paid in $100 shares. The
well-to-do whites who have been willing to invest to help in the
start have taken full paid stock and most of the Negroes are pay-
ing at the rate of twenty cents a week, although the weekly pay-
ments are not compulsory and the stock can be paid for as the
holder is able. Dividends have been paid at the rate of 6 per cent
from the start, the expenses being very light owing to the clerical
work being contributed.

"Half of the directors are white and half are Negroes, the
theory of the plan being based upon cooperation of the races, and
three of the whites have had unusual real estate experience. Com-
bining as it does the provision of a safe form of accumulation
as well as investment of funds and assistance in securing homes,
the Association can be of great help to the group in whose interest
it was formed, showing them at the same time how to use their
money to help their race.

"No building has been done yet, and only the strongest and
least needy have been reached ; but the foundation is being laid for
extension into wider fields, the wisdom of going slowly and be-
coming familiar with the problems being recognized by the man-
agement. One house has been turned into apartments with modern
facilities, and then houses have been sold to stockholders, at a
total investment of about $35,000.

"The significant feature of the work of the Association is in the
method by which it sells the properties to purchasers, for it does
not require them to purchase and then mortgage to the Associa-
tion as is the usual custom. It buys the property itself and puts
the purchaser in the house with a contract of sale which provides
for weekly payments on the basis of rent. The following extract
from the printed circulars will give the details:

" 'When a stockholder has enough money in the Association to pay the
expense of legal transfer of a property to the Association, six months' ex-

STUDIES OF NEGRO HOUSING — HOUSING PROJECTS 239

penses, (ground rent, taxes, etc.) four weeks' payment of dues and interest
and a fee for the management of the property until paid for, the Associa-
tion will endeavor to find and buy a home suitable to his needs and allow
him to occupy it upon the following terms :

" 'A contract of sale will be given him in which the Association binds
itself to deed the property to him when he has paid for it through regular
weekly payments, each of which shall be made up of the following items:
One week's proportion of the yearly expenses, such as taxes, ground rent,
repairs, etc. ; twenty cents dues for each one hundred dollars of the cost of
the property, and twelve cents for each one hundred dollars, as interest, this
being subject to reductions as each one hundred dollars is paid on the prin-
cipal. Under this arrangement payment would be made in full in ten years,
but the purchaser has the right to pay as much more as he may be able ; and
the principal payments are increased as the interest decreases, thus lessening
the time'." 2

Chicago, Illinois

"Following the success of those splendid model tenements, the
Paul Laurence Dunbar Apartments in New York made possible
by the support of John D. Rockefeller, Jr., a new, equally fine
group of apartments for the better element of the Negro popula-
tion is now nearing completion in Chicago, as a result of the public
spirit and intelligent interest in the Negro race of Julius Rosen-
wald, who for years has been one of the leaders in the movement
f pr bettering the condition of the Negro in this country.

"Associating with himself a group of Chicago financiers Mr.
Rosenwald, after many years study of the subject, some months
ago started the construction of a group of new modern apartment
houses occupying an entire city block on the south side of Chicago,
housing 417 Negro families.

"The Michigan Boulevard Garden Apartments, as they are
called, are located on the block from Michigan to Wabash Avenue
extending from 46th to 47th Street on Chicago's South Side . . .

"Heretofore in this country there have been very few new
apartments built commercially for Negro tenants; the Negro has
had to generally content himself with the cast-off housing accom-
modations of his white neighbor. This situation is not peculiar
to Chicago but is to be found in all American cities. As long as
15 years ago Julius Rosenwald, conscious of these conditions, con-
templated a housing demonstration in Chicago, with particular

3 Gary, John R., "Helping Negro Workers to Purchase Homes," Oppor-
tunity, January, 1924, Vol. 2, pp. 23-24.

240 NEGRO HOUSING

reference to providing decent housing for the Negroes in that city.
Land was even actually purchased and plans drawn for an attrac-
tive apartment building ; but after careful estimates of the cost of
the project, it was found that the financial status of the colored
people of Chicago was not high enough at that time to enable
them to pay the rents that would have been necessary to secure a
fair return on the investment.

"With the changed economic condition of the colored people
that has come about in recent years it seemed to Mr. Rosen-
wald that the time was ripe for the kind of housing demonstra-
tion that he has had ip mind all these years. Consequently, a
committee of business men was formed to study the condition of
the colored people in Chicago and a survey of the higher-income
group among that race was made under the direction of the Uni-
versity of Chicago. This showed a need of apartments for col-
ored people, especially of apartments of three, four and five rooms.
As a result of this study Mr. Rosenwald determined to go ahead
with his project and after careful consideration of various sites,
the present site was selected.

"On this site, which is admirably situated, a garden apartment
is now nearing completion. It is five stories in height, covers less
than 40 per cent of the 6 acres of land involved and when it is
finished will provide accommodations for 417 families with a total
of 1,641 rooms. The majority of the apartments are, wisely, of
four rooms. The apartments are modern in every respect, in fact
may be said to represent the last word in comforts and even
luxuries in apartment house living. All apartments are centrally
heated from a central oil burning heating system. Every apart-
ment is furnished with an electric refrigerator and with combina-
tion tub and shower bath. The apartments are being attractively
decorated.

"In the center of the block is a large central garden covering
over 3 acres of land in which good sized trees and many shrubs
have already been planted. There will be a playground for the
smaller children in the garden and a sun-room on the roof where
persons especially needing it can take the sun cure. A modern
nursery will be conducted in the building directed by competent
persons. The building is fireproof and the whole project will cost
over 3 million dollars.

"Rents, as was to be expected, are somewhat high. The three-

STUDIES OF NEGRO HOUSING — HOUSING PROJECTS 241

room apartments which consist of living-room, kitchen, bedroom
and bath, range from $50 to $54 a month, which is an average of
$17 to $18 per room. The four-room apartments, containing two
bedrooms, rent from $58 to $72 a month, which is an average of
$14.50 to $18 a room. The five-room apartments, with three bed-
rooms, rent from $68 to $80, or an average of $13.60 to $16 a
room per month . . ." 3

* * * * *

"The first report on the success of the Michigan Boulevard
Garden Apartments Corporation, Chicago, was made at a small
supper held in September to celebrate the first anniversary of
the building. The apartments, which cover the entire city block
from Forty-sixth to Forty-seventh street and Michigan to Wabash
Avenue, represent the realization of an idea conceived by Julius
Rosenwald — a demonstration that modern housing facilities for
Negroes can be provided on a strictly business basis.

"The report at the end of the first six months of 1930 showed
an occupancy of approximately 98 per cent. The net income over
the six months' period was at an annual rate of about 6 per cent
on capital stock. Depreciation and all other items of expense
have been charged into the operation and cost of the building. In
commenting on this, and on the fact that bad debts over the period
were only one-eighth of 1 per cent, Mr. Rosenwald wrote to the
assembled guests:

" 'It is now a little more than a year since the completion of the Apart-
ments, and I should like to record the feeling of satisfaction which is mine,
due to the splendid results of our great venture. By results I do not have in
mind primarily the financial side, important and desirable as that is, but
more particularly the fine type of tenants, with which you and your asso-
ciates have been instrumental in filling the building. So far as I have
learned, there has been little or no friction between the tenants and the
management, or among the tenants themselves. This is highly gratifying,
and I think great credit is due to the effectiveness of the Community Asso-
ciation and the Board of Advisors, who represent the tenants. In taking the
interest they do, and I have no doubt frequently at considerable sacrifice to
themselves, the members of this committee are rendering a service not
only to the occupants of the building but to the Negroes of the entire country.

" 'Those living in our Apartments have proved that the Negro is a law-
abiding citizen and a desirable tenant. In so doing they have added to the
prestige of their race and have tended to encourage the investment of money

8 "The Negro Coming Into His Own," Housing, June, 1929, Vol. 18, pp.
110-113.

242 NEGRO HOUSING

in kindred projects, since it is known that such property is likely to receive
the sort of treatment which might be expected from the best class of people,
regardless of race. I have been especially impressed with the quiet that pre-
vailed in the court, which is an indication that those who occupy the build-
ing must respect one another's rights.' ... p. 151.

"The Michigan Boulevard Garden Apartments consists of 421
apartments of three, four and five rooms, representing an invest-
ment of $2,700,000. The building occupies less than 40 per cent
of the total space, the remainder being laid out in beautiful gar-
dens, courts and a playground for small children. Two nursery
schools are run in connection, one for the children of the mothers
who work and must be gone all day, and the other for children
whose mothers are at home. The building personnel, including
the manager, is made up of Negroes." p. 15 1.4

Cincinnati, Ohio

"The industrial conditions of 1930 have naturally affected the
activities of the Cincinnati Model Homes Company though not
to the extent of actual harm. The wage earner with his income
cut off or curtailed was compelled to economize on housing which
resulted in an unhealthy shrinkage in the demand for housing.
Giving up independent housekeeping and sharing living quarters
with relatives or friends has become aC^practice among various
industrial classes — with the inevitable outcome that all classes of
dwelling property have suffered.

"The groups of buildings affected by these conditions were with
only one exception groups occupied by white people. On one
post-war group the company lost in vacancies and by defaults 29
per cent of its annual gross income. Another white group of pre-
war construction that has always enjoyed full occupancy on ac-
count of the low rentals and its proximity to industrial establish-
ments lost 11.5 per cent of its annual income in vacancies and
defaults. The only colored group that made a poor showing was
the Carr Street unit — consisting of ten two-room and three-room
apartments and a store — entirely due to its location. The Negro
that seeks our accommodations does not want to live in the West
End 'bottoms.'

"Contrasting strikingly with this epidemic of vacancies in our

4 "Modern Housing for Negroes Brings Gratifying Results," American
City, November, 1930, Vol. 43, p. 151.

STUDIES OF NEGRO HOUSING — HOUSING PROJECTS 243

white groups, we have been experiencing an unabated brisk demand
for accommodations in our suburban colored groups. We are still
the recipients of letters, telephone and personal calls from em-
ployers in behalf of their colored employees. And every time we
have a vacancy we have a problem on hand: Who shall be the
privileged one?

"The contrast in the housing situation of both races was vividly
demonstrated last summer when we turned over to a Negro ten-
antry three groups occupied by whites with a total of 75 three-
and four-room apartments. There was a rush for them and within
two days 95 per cent of the accommodations were taken.

"But for the uncertainty of future prices in the construction
line, conditions seem to favor our reentry on a construction pro-
gramme— for Negroes of course. With our indebtedness off the
slate, from now on we shall be accumulating annually in cash
around $25,000 — representing depreciation charges and surpluses.
We shall be confronted with the problem what to do with the
money. It is not likely that our board of directors will favor active
investment in other fields than industrial housing — a service to the
community that has become a tradition with us.

"Houses — our builder assures us — can now be built at 25 per
cent less than in 1929, which means a possibility of renting at $7
or $7.50 a room per month — a rather moderate rate for the pres-
ent ; and, perhaps, for the future.

"The present depression is not a hindrance. We shall benefit
from the present keen competition among contractors, the eager-
ness of labor for employment and the anxiety of the material man
to see cash. It is well to remember that our major activities
were entered upon in 1914 — a year with free soup kitchens open
in all large cities of this country.

". . , Our total rental income for 1930 amounted to $105,585.97
—or close to $2,000 less than in 1929. The losses in
vacancies and by defaults were $6,472.92 and represent 5.7 per
cent of the gross rental income, as against 2.6 per cent in 1929.
Over $2,000 was lost in the above mentioned three groups in the
interim between the white and colored occupancy. Forty per
cent of the white tenants in these three groups took advantage
of the change and carried off half or the whole of the last month's
rent, amounting to $323.80. Some of them argued that they were
put to the inconvenience and expense through no default of theirs

244 NEGRO HOUSING

and, therefore, were entitled to some recompense in free rental.
In view of the industrial conditions, and, perhaps, because of some
merit in the argument, we did not contest that claim.

"Examining our losses along racial lines, we find the losses in
vacancies

Slightly over 1 per cent in the colored groups

Almost 13 per cent in the white groups

Losses by default 2.2 per cent in the colored groups

Losses by default 1.8 per cent in the white groups

"If we exclude losses by default in the Braxton Campbell Court
groups — the group turned over to Negroes — which occurred under
peculiar circumstances, the default among the white groups was
1 per cent of their annual rentals, or five times greater than among
the Negro groups.

"While this favorable showing is due in great measure to the
type of Negro we have been housing, in justice to the white man
we must not overlook his greater mobility. In our experience we
find three times as many whites move as Negroes. Proportion-
ately, three times as many white tenants are exposed to the tempta-
tion to move without paying the last instalment of rent. We
wonder if the turn-over were as great among Negroes as among
whites, whether the figures would favor the Negro.

"This is further reflected in the delinquent list as of December
31st last. There the Negro appears with 1.7 per cent of his annual
rentals delinquent, while the white man appears with only 0.8 per
cent.

"The net results of the different groups vary from 1.1 per cent
to 12 per cent. Eight groups netted us over 6 per cent; and eight
below the 6 per cent level. All groups together netted a fraction
over 5 per cent on the original investment.

". . . Our direct expenses for all groups were $57,389.55.
Excluding depreciation which is a fixed book charge, taxes (over
which we have no control), insurance and other items that do not
enter into maintenance proper, we find the cost of upkeep, includ-
ing water, in 1930 was $14.90 per room, as against $14.91 in 1929;
$15.16 in 1928; $16.73 in 1927; $11.79 in 1926; and $11.50 in
1925.

"The maintenance cost would have been less, but the changes
of tenantry in the above-mentioned groups entailed quite an ex-
penditure on interior renovating. Again, in 1930, 40 per cent of

STUDIES OF NEGRO HOUSING— HOUSING PROJECTS 245

our buildings received two coats of paint, as against 9 per cent of
our holdings in 1929.

"So far there is no standard yard stick that can be applied to our
cost of maintenance in order to determine whether our cost of
operation is economic or extravagant. Our aim, though, must be
to maintain a good standard of upkeep. We are constantly bearing
in mind that our problem is as much a human one as it is a com-
mercial one — perhaps, more so. The elevating influence of a high
standard of upkeep on the human side of the problem cannot be
overestimated. Where respectability ends, slum conditions begin.
Undoubtedly our own standards have risen with years of experi-
ence and service. And it is rather a hopeful sign that we have
not grown stale and are marching with the times . . ." 5

New York, New York

"But now have come the spacious garden apartments erected
in Harlem by Mr. John D. Rockefeller, Jr. The dominant note is
simplicity, the decorative touches being few but judiciously dis-
posed so as to break up the monotony of the plain wall surface.
Complete harmony in the various materials employed is happily
achieved. In the sparing use of carving, of wrought iron, etc., it
was the designer's aim to employ the best craftsmanship and in
each instance to concentrate the limited allowance on one point of
beauty.

"Two rooms deep, the six independent buildings are set around
the outside of a large rectangle, the interior being devoted to
gardens. Every room has abundant access to sunlight and fresh
air. In the center of the gardens is a play space where the little
children may enjoy wholesome recreation under ideal conditions.
They even have a clubroom of their own. What better safeguards
against juvenile deinquency?

"All materials were bought shrewdly and are of good quality.
The structures are sound and durable, without gaudy ornamenta-
tion. The entire project illustrates the truism that large-scale
operations are the most economical . . ." p. 419.6

5 Ginberg, Harris, "Interesting Facts About Model Houses and Their
Tenants," Housing, March, 1931, Vol. 20, pp. 69-73.

8 Bruce, Roscoe Conkling, "The Dunbar Apartment House, An Adven-
ture in Community Building," Southern Workman, October, 1931, Vol. 60,
pp. 417-428.

246 NEGRO HOUSING

"To acquire in the traditional manner a deed to an individual
house on the Island of Manhattan is now quite impossible for
such of us as remain in the lower-wage brackets, so costly are land,
union labor and building materials, but basically land.

"The cooperative apartment house on our nice little, tight little
island offers at this hour the only practicable approach to home
ownership. No individual tenant-subscriber's interest can be
represented by a deed, for that would confer title from the center
of the earth to the zenith, nullifying the rights of tenant-sub-
scribers above and below. So, in lieu of the traditional deed to the
home, one begins the purchase on a liberal instalment plan of the
common stock of the housing corporation, leasing his apartment
home. The basic principle is hoary with age, representing no
innovation in the English law. And that apartment home is the
man's castle, justifiably appealing to the same deep instincts and
giving rise to the same exalted sentiments which motivated that
simple but never to be forgotten song, Home, Sweet Home, in
John Howard Payne's otherwise utterly forgotten opera, Clan,
The Maid of Milan.

"At the beautiful and modern Paul Laurence Dunbar Apart-
ments with their spacious gardens, it is upon the character of the
applicant, rather than upon his financial resources, that the cor-
poration in the main relies. For, the down payment is only fifty
dollars per room and even that may now be distributed over as
long a period as three years. The median wage of the initial 511
tenant-subscribers was only $148.86 per month; it is, of course,
appreciably less today. The project has, nevertheless, proved to
be a sound and safe investment, our beloved founder, Mr. John
D. Rockefeller, Jr., limiting his return upon the capital outlay to
Sl/2 per cent. All this without tax exemption or government sub-
sidy of any kind.

"Now, since such results have been demonstrated to be attain-
able even with families selected from the community of color, the
most disadvantaged group in American life, the flow of capital
into large-scale housing projects for the masses of the American
people, that is to say, income groups so low that they must look
to others to provide the initial capital outlay, should and, we think,
will be accelerated. Granted an efficient and social-minded man-
agement, the capitalist has here an altogether safe, gratifying,
long-term investment.

STUDIES OF NEGRO HOUSING — HOUSING PROJECTS 247

"Intangibles are easily underrated. But, it is the psychic ele-
ment that makes practicable the sale of cooperative apartment
homes at a lower payment per room per month (at the Dunbar an
average of $14.50) than the very same apartments can be rented
to the very same people. The crux of the matter is that a man's
attitude toward that which he feels to be his own, is very different
in practice from his attitude toward that which he knows to be his
landlord's. At the Dunbar one enriches himself — not the land-
lord. And vandalism is unknown.

"Every dollar the tenant-subscriber pays into his cooperative
increases his stake in the venture, impelling him to remain in his
apartment home, if humanly possible, until the very end of his sub-
scription agreement, though it be thirty years. Hence, there
occurs a minimum tenant-subscriber turnover each and every
year. We have entered upon our fifth year of operation and
76 per cent of our original tenant-subscribers are still with us.

"At the Dunbar we have a homogeneous group, a basic requisite,
actual experience seems to indicate, to the continuing success of
any cooperative housing project.

"Now, when the world of industry and commerce is unex-
pectedly overwhelmed with a depression as it is today, the tenant-
subscriber in a cooperative housing project such as the Paul
Laurence Dunbar Apartment quickly realizes the advantageousness
of his position. This is true whether he remains in the project
or, on due notice, for any reason vacates.

"Had he been merely paying rent in a commercial apartment
house, he would have nought but a collection of worthless rent
receipts and not one penny of accumulated savings. But, at the
Dunbar the tenant-subscriber, for example, to the average 5-room
apartment February 1, 1928, had, on January 31, 1932, or four
years later, accumulated savings amounting to $667.10. Though
eager to work, should he nevertheless be out of a job for no fault
of his own and hence unable to make any monthly payment for a
while, these savings constitute a very substantial margin of safety.
If he secures the consent of the social-minded corporation, he may
still carry on. And in such case the corporation could consent
without risking financial loss.

"No matter what a tenant-subscriber's accumulated savings may
amount to at any time, his lease and subscription agreement speci-
fies that every monthly payment be met in full upon the due date.

248 NEGRO HOUSING

He is buying his apartment home — not renting it. So, it is just
as much — if not more — in his interest to make every payment on
or before the due date, as in his landlord's.

"From the point of view of the capitalist as well as that of the
tenant-subscriber, the accumulated savings in the cooperative con-
stitute, then, a solid assurance. When commercial apartment
houses in the same region are largely vacant and in numerous
instances the landlords are brought face to face with bankruptcy,
the investor in the cooperative housing project is confronted with
only a negligible number of vacancies — at the Dunbar not yet, in
spite of the depression, as many as 6 per cent. With an alert and
efficient management, he has every reasonable assurance against
financial loss, since depressions do not last forever." 7

7 Bruce, Roscoe Conkling, The Idea of Cooperative Housing as Exempli-
fied by The Paul Laurence Dunbar Apartments in New York City, pre-
pared for the Committee on Negro Housing.

APPENDIX VI

THE BETTER HOMES CAMPAIGN

"Home improvement never ends. It does not matter how well
built or how well kept a community, or how attractive its homes
and gardens, or how carefully planned the city, there are always
some houses in need of improvement. Our standards of living
also are increasing. Old standards are no longer tolerable. New
knowledge with regard to health, sanitation, ventilation, and
fatigue indicates the need of raising standards if we are to pro-
mote a wholesome family life and guard the health of children.
Poor food, inadequate diet, bad ventilation, undue fatigue in
household operations, obviously react on the health of the entire
family. So it is essential to remodel, modernize, and repair our
houses, and provide adequate ventilation and sunlight, eliminate
inconveniences and the necessity for long hours of labor, if we
are to boast of an America of good homes.

"Negro citizens have not been backward in recognizing the
necessity and the benefits to be derived from homes of a desirable
standard. In the Better Homes campaign of 1931, 925 Negro
leaders served as state, county, district and community chairmen
in Better Homes campaigns. They organized the Negro citizens
of their own communities and carried on home improvement cam-
paigns, which in most instances resulted in extensive home im-
provement. Of the 8,418 chairmen (both white and Negro)
which took part in the campaign of 1931, 925, or nearly 10 per
cent, were Negro citizens. Fourteen states have been organized
with Negro citizens as state leaders. Eleven districts and 130
counties have similar organizations. In addition, in 770 cities,
towns and villages, Negro leaders have been selected to carry on
this home improvement work. In 1928, three years previous,
only 229 Negro chairmen were active in this work and in 1929
this number had increased to 388. Two years later in 1931, over
500 Negroes were added to this small band which now nearly
approaches a thousand in number. This means that the number of
Negro chairmen has become ten times as great over a period of
six years— from 1926 to 1931.

"Arkansas alone boasted of 243 Negro chairmen, Mississippi

249

250 NEGRO HOUSING

of 97, Alabama of 76, and both Texas and Virginia of more than
fifty. Other states were less in number.

"In most of the communities represented by Negro leaders, Bet-
ter Homes campaigns are held. It is the endeavor of the leader and
the Better Homes committee which this leader organized, to carry
on these campaigns and to disseminate education on methods and
means of home improvement. Sometimes an actual demonstration
house is built, equipped, and furnished by the Better Homes com-
mittee. In some places extensive tours of houses are held which
show various features of architectural design, house planning,
equipment, furnishing, planting of the grounds, etc. Hundreds of
houses are shown in these tours. In still other communities, pro-
grams, lectures, and exhibits are the essentials of the Better Homes
demonstration. These programs and lectures take place during
Better Homes Week, which usually is the last week in April. Dur-
ing this particular week each community which is organized en-
deavors to demonstrate the' meaning of home improvement and
sets itself up as a shining example of the best that may be done
with the money that is available, for most of these home improve-
ment projects are conducted by the families themselves.

"In the 1931 campaign there were 133 Negro major demonstra-
tion houses — that is, 133 houses which were equipped and fur-
nished and opened to the public during Better Homes Week.
Some of these were new, some old, some remodeled and modern-
ized and some improved in various minor ways. All have been
set aside to show to the families of the communities in which they
are located the best that can be afforded for the money that is
to be spent. In addition to the major demonstration houses there
were 809 houses for Negroes shown in tours. These tours usually
last a day or a half -day and each house represents a specific fea-
ture of interest. All of the houses which are demonstrated in
Better Homes in America campaigns are houses suitable for
families of modest incomes, and many of them show what is
meant by low-cost housing; for most of the homes demonstrated
by Negro families in the 1931 campaign varied from as little as
$300 without land for a small, old or reconditioned house to those
which cost as much as $7,500.

"There were many demonstrations of outstanding merit con-
ducted by Negro citizens in 1931. Three counties — Jefferson,
Lee and St. Francis Counties in Arkansas — as well as the com-

Courtesy of Better Homes in America

The kitchen of the demonstration home which the Negroes of Albemarle
County, Virginia, used to show what energy and paint could do.

Courtesy of Better Homes in America

The same kitchen of Charlottesville, Virginia, rest center after it had been
reconditioned by Negro men, women and children of Albemarle County.

THE BETTER HOMES CAMPAIGN 251

munity of East St. Louis, Illinois, were awarded honorable men-
tion for the educational value of their demonstrations and the
excellent organization work on the part of the Better Homes com-
mittees. There were, in addition to these, a number of other com-
munities which studied carefully the housing and homemaking
needs of the community and endeavored to assist in solving the
housing problems as part of the Better Homes demonstrations.

"In Jefferson County, Arkansas, two demonstration houses and
one home economics cottage were opened for inspection during
Better Homes Week. One of the houses was a town house of
new, frame construction, consisting of six rooms and bath and
valued at about $3,800. The second house was a remodeled house
of five rooms and bath, which cost a little less than $1,500. These
two houses represented in the first, good planning, sound con-
struction and conveniences; and in the second, a project in re-
modeling at small cost. The home economics cottage which was
opened for inspection demonstrated the practical and useful work
that students are doing as part of home economics instruction.

"In addition to these three demonstrations there was a tour of
57 houses, and home improvement contests which were partici-
pated in by several hundred people. Negro schools gave special
health programs and pupils entered into home improvement work
by carrying on small home repairs in their own homes. School-
houses and grounds were also cleaned and put in order.

"One of the most outstanding features of the Jefferson County
demonstration was a Better Homes School. A number of com-
munity chairmen in the county attended this school and various
housing and homemaking problems were discussed, such as care
and repair of homes, landscaping, garden demonstrations, contests
of the separate rooms in the house, etc. After a survey was made,
the kitchen was believed to be the most neglected room in the ma-
jority of homes and the emphasis was placed on this particular
part of the demonstration. In addition to this, equipment, such
as water systems and sewerage, was also discussed.

"In Jefferson County, as in other counties, considerable emphasis
was placed on the value of vegetable gardens — particularly during
this period of unemployment. In some of the demonstration gar-
dens as many as twenty-nine varieties of vegetables were shown
with information on the number of crops that may be grown.
Such a demonstration is of particular value in supplying families

252 NEGRO HOUSING

with food for adequate diet and also in reducing family expendi-
tures.

"The main feature of the Lee County, Arkansas, demonstra-
tion was an extensive tour of improved places featuring special
rooms, reconditioned furniture, built-in equipment, conveniences,
etc. Over 600 Negro families participated and the schools demon-
strated the refinishing of furniture and care and repair.

"In another Arkansas county — St. Francis — 18 Negro demon-
stration houses were visited. Nearly 2,500 persons inspected
these houses. The St. Francis County demonstration illustrates
also scientific and carefully thought out campaign work, as a sur-
vey was conducted of the local housing needs. In this county 65
houses were shown in tours. The school cooperated by the plant-
ing of grounds, the making of gardens and in clean-up campaign
work. Home economics departments exhibited handicraft and
also had a display of clothing. The 4-H Club girls entered into
homemaking contests and home beautification competitions. So
successful was this campaign in St. Francis County that a house
is planned for every community in the county for the 1932 demon-
stration.

"In East St. Louis, Illinois, 12 homes were included in the
Better Homes tour. These houses varied in cost from $500 to
$7,500. Extensive lecture programs and special meetings were
also held and the schools made their contribution by exhibiting
handicraft work and in clean-up campaigns. The home economics
department gave a demonstration of furniture arrangement, and
the boy and girl organizations, such as Boy Scouts, assisted in
the clean-up of vacant lots.

"A unique but most interesting project was that included in
Jackson, Mississippi, in which hundreds of families in the com-
munity participated. This was a contest between city blocks in
order to stimulate home improvement and inspire families to
beautify and clean up their premises. A major demonstration
house was also a part of the campaign. This was well equipped
and furnished with reconditioned furniture.

"In Pemiscot County, Missouri, the Jeanes Supervisors took an
active part in the campaign work, by assisting in arranging the
Better Homes tour. This tour of nine houses included as its
special features living-room arrangement, bedroom furnishings,
dining-room, including table setting, wall finishes and coverings,
kitchens and kitchen equipment.

THE BETTER HOMES CAMPAIGN

253

"The outstanding Negro demonstration of South Carolina was
that of St. Helena Island. This Island has been awarded a num-
ber of Better Homes in America prizes as well as honorable men-
tion. The Penn Normal and Industrial School of the Island has
taken part in the Better Homes campaign work since the very
beginning of Better Homes in America. In 1931, a house built
by Negro students of the carpentry class of Penn School was the
special feature. This demonstration house was constructed par-
tially of lumber salvaged from the old house which was torn
down. This cottage, dedicated 'Laurellen Cottage/ was not only
built, equipped, and furnished, but the grounds were planned and
planted.

"In addition to this major demonstration house, tours were
made to improved houses on the Island. Churches, schools, and
all organizations made their contribution to the campaign. Over
2,000 citizens and friends viewed some part of the demonstra-
tion. The slogan for each teacher in Penn School is 'Better
Homes in St. Helena.'

"Perhaps one of the most unique and most worth while fea-
tures of the program was the work done by what was known as
the Tax Committee. Due to the fact that many of the Islanders
are losing their homes because of failure to pay taxes or because
of ignorance regarding taxation, educational work on taxation was
planned as part of the Better Homes campaign. Representatives
were called from each plantation to meet at the school in order
to discuss the best methods of helping poor families and those
families not familiar with tax laws. 'Tax Facts' and 'Tax Rules'
were formulated, and the general principles of taxation were ex-
plained to the people. The amount of land which is slipping away
from Islanders through ignorance as well as due to poverty was
discussed and in the tax rules which were set up for this group the
following were included:

1. Read the tax receipt.

2. Be sure you pay your own tax. Always give name and plantation.

3. Go to the tax sale or have your representative there.

4. Declare your tax returns.

5. All farm and wood land on St. Helena Island is valuable to the Negro
people. When you lose your inheritance what have you to fall back on?

"Such problems as this which were included in the Better Homes
campaign are of real educational value and are of considerable
significance at present.

254 NEGRO HOUSING

"The above are samples of some of the outstanding Negro
demonstrations. There are hundreds of others which represent
varied phases of home improvement work. In the 1931 cam-
paign, Negro citizens as well as white entered into unemploy-
ment relief as part of Better Homes work. This unemployment
relief has been in the form of home reconditioning and repair and
in the raising of vegetable gardens. Although many families may
not be able to afford the hire of outside labor in home repair,
these home repair campaigns, even though the repair work is con-
ducted by the families themselves, do add to some extent to the
materials that are purchased. They add considerably, also,
in putting houses and premises in good condition. For a house in
good condition obviously has been increased in value . . .

"If one were to catalogue the results of these Negro Better
Homes campaigns perhaps home improvement would receive the
first place. However, there is a result that may be even greater
and more far-reaching than that of the actual project of home im-
provement. This result is the desire created in Negro families for

home improvement and a better standard of living." 8

* * * * *

"Six hundred and seventy-four committees were organized in
all parts of the United States during the past year to arrange for
participation of colored citizens in the nation-wide Better Homes
campaign. This campaign is sponsored by Better Homes in
America and has for its purpose the improvement of housing con-
ditions for families of modest means.

"The movement, begun in 1922 as a private enterprise, was
found to be of such value in bringing about improved conditions
and homemaking practices, that it was established on a national
basis in 1923, with Mr. Hoover, then Secretary of Commerce, as
its president . . .

"The purposes of Better Homes in America are :

1. To make accessible to all citizens knowledge of high standards in house
building, home furnishing and home life.

2. To encourage the building of sound, beautiful, single-family houses ;
and to encourage the reconditioning and remodeling of old houses.

3. To encourage thrift for home ownership, and to spread knowledge of
methods of financing the purchase or building of a home.

8 Halbert, Blanche, "Home Improvement among Negro Families," Southern
Workman, May, 1932, Vol. 61, No. 5, pp. 209-216.

THE BETTER HOMES CAMPAIGN

255

4. To encourage general study of the housing problem and of problems
of family life, and to help each community to profit from its study.

5. To encourage the furnishing of homes economically and in good taste.

6. To supply knowledge of the means of eliminating drudgery and waste
of effort in housekeeping, and to spread information about public agencies
which will assist housekeepers in their problems.

7. To encourage the establishment of courses of instruction in home eco-
nomics in the public schools, and particularly the construction of home-
economics cottages and home-management houses where girls in our public
schools and colleges may, by actual practice, learn the best methods of con-
ducting household operations and of homemaking.

8. To encourage the building of small houses by boys of vocational schools
or vocational classes of public schools, with instruction in house upkeep and
repair, so that the boys of the community may acquire an intelligent interest
in the problems of householding and home ownership.

9. To promote the improvement of house lots, yards, and neighborhoods,
and to encourage the making of home gardens and home playgrounds.

10. To extend knowledge of the ways of making home life happier, through
the development of home music, home play, home arts and crafts, and the
home library.

11. To encourage special study and discussion of the problem of character
building in the home.

"These purposes are carried out in local communities by com-
mittees of interested citizens who, with the help of specialists, ar-
range programs designed to meet local needs. These programs
vary according to the size and conditions of the communities, rang-
ing through sings-meetings with talks on homemaking subjects,
demonstrations of labor-saving devices and methods, showing of
handmade and reconditioned articles of furniture, improvement
contests which often involve entire communities, and the demon-
stration of houses, either new or reconditioned, suitable for fami-
lies of modest income. Prominent colored citizens in all parts of
the country are serving on these committees and are carrying out
programs which are resulting in improved conditions of housing
for the members of their communities. The chairmen of these
committees, both men and women, have been selected and ap-
pointed by the national office because of their active interest in
civic affairs.

"In addition to local and county Better Homes committees, state
committees are formed for the purpose of adapting the national
educational program to local needs and of bringing its service into
every community in the state. Fourteen such committees have
been organized . . .

256 NEGRO HOUSING

"More than 7,000 communities took part in the 1930 Better
Homes campaign which culminated in the observance of Better
Homes Week, in April. As a means of calling public attention
to the accomplishments in home improvement work, the national
organization each year offers prizes ranging from $50 to $500 to
communities presenting the most worth while educational pro-
grams. Many colored communities have participated in these
awards during the past years, while still others have received
honorable mention because of the excellence of their programs.
Seven communities of colored people were included in the fifty-
nine which were given honorable mention for the quality of their
programs, while activities of colored people contributed to the
programs in several of the prize-winning communities. Notable
among these was the work done in Greenville, South Carolina,
where the Better Homes campaign was sponsored by the Women's
Bureau of the Chamber of Commerce. Three of the fourteen
houses shown in different parts of the city to illustrate planning,
planting, furnishing or improving that could be carried out at
little or no cost, were planned especially for colored families and
were furnished and demonstrated by subcommittees . . .

". . . In Little Rock, Arkansas, which won fourth prize in the
class of cities over 10,000, a survey of housing conditions of col-
ored people revealed the fact that the average rent paid is $10 a
month. About 20 per cent of the colored citizens own their own
homes. The committee selected for demonstration a three-room
house which had been let and which the owner remodeled from
a run-down house into a creditable cottage. This house was used
to show a type of home that could be purchased and maintained
on an income of $1,000 to $2,000. Its furnishings were selected
from the stocks of local merchants and placed by a committee
from the Colored Federation of Women's Clubs. When opened
for inspection during Better Homes Week this house was visited
by 7,450 persons. Forty ministers in colored churches used Bet-
ter Homes as the subject of their sermons on April 27. Programs
were held in a new school building and in the Y. W. C. A., with
music by colored choirs and glee clubs. Tours were arranged to
homes where improvement in planting was shown and also to the
houses entered in last year's contest ... As a project in com-
munity improvement, the Colored Parent-Teacher Association is
undertaking the planting of school grounds.

"Warren County, Mississippi, won second prize in the county

THE BETTER HOMES CAMPAIGN 257

group, with a program which included the showing of twelve
houses, ranging in cost from $250 to $10,000. Three of these,
costing $250, $300, and $1,200 with furnishings costing $300,
$300, and $600, respectively, were provided for colored families.
Two hundred and fifty colored citizens took part in contests to im-
prove houses and grounds, and 500 attended programs. In addi-
tion to the home improvement work, forty-three school grounds
were cleaned and beautified . . .

"Tours to eleven houses were made during Better Homes Week
by two hundred colored citizens of Pulaski County, Arkansas,
where they were given opportunity to inspect added rooms, im-
proved fences, whitewashing, planting, ... all of which were
accomplished through the Better Homes campaign. Lectures and
demonstrations were given at each home. The latter included
table setting, bed making, and picture framing and hanging. The
lecture topics included home beautification, health in the home,
systematizing housework, and the year-round garden as a source of
proper food. National Negro Health Week was correlated with
the Better Homes program, which resulted in extensive cleaning
of homes and premises. With the cooperation of parents and
teachers, children of rural schools repaired houses, built walks,
repaired doorsteps, leveled lawns, sodded yards, cleaned yards,
built fences, moved wood-piles, painted houses, moved old fences
and unsightly objects, planted shrubs and flowers, made window
flower boxes, painted furniture, made window curtains and covers
for dressers and chairs, improved rooms and whitewashed houses
and outhouses . . .

"More than 7,000 local committees participated in carrying out
plans for home improvement and arranging special programs dur-
ing the observance of Better Homes Week, April 26 to May 2;
and colored citizens throughout the nation have demonstrated that
they, too, are no less eager than their fellow citizens for homes
of comfort and beauty. That there are formidable handicaps to
overcome in many communities none will deny, but there is reason
to hope that within the next decade there will be a revolution
in house building, home furnishing, and home life in America in
which the colored citizens will play an important and happy
role." 9

9 Storrow, Helen, "Better Homes for Negroes in America," Opportunity,
June, 1931, Vol. 9, pp. 174-177.

APPENDIX VII

THE KITCHENETTE APARTMENT1

A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF APARTMENTS OCCUPIED BY WHITES
AND NEGROES IN PARALLEL AREAS

Introduction

The questionnaire method was used. Sample used : Only one
block in white neighborhood and only one block in Negro neighbor-
hood. Therefore findings cannot be set forth as generally true of
special area or typical of city, but are certainly true in this one
sample. With prevalence of kitchenette apartments, however, in
both territories, we are inclined to conclude that the converted
kitchenette apartment is typical of interstitial areas.

Basis of Selection

These two blocks were chosen because they are equal in age.
Both neighborhoods were formerly occupied by wealthy owners,
followed by groups lower in social and economic scales. Houses
have rather elaborate stone fronts, and were, in their day, stately
dwellings.

White Area

Negro Area

One - family Dwellings
Made into Kitchen-
ette Apartments.

Of 10 one-family dwellings vis-
ited, 8 converted into kitchen-
ette apartments.

Of 13 one-family dwellings vis-
ited, 9 converted into kitchen-
ette apartments.

Arrangement of Apart-
ments

(1) Large double parlors subdi-
vided and used for bedroom and
kitchen. (2) Two small adja-
cent rooms — one as kitchen.

Ordinary clothes closet used for
kitchen. Gas plate, ice box in
bedroom. Result: Mildewed
walls and wet floor areas.

Lighting Fixtures and
Light

Old gas chandeliers and fixtures
replaced by good electrical wir-
ing and fixtures. All apart-
ments arranged with access to
natural daylight.

Many old unused gas chandeliers
remained. Electrical installa-
tion in hallways. Extension
cords attached and run through
holes in walls into individual
rooms.

Stairways

In both areas, need of varnish
and stain obvious.

Four flights of stairways creaky
and insecure.

Walls

Well papered. Landlords will
paper but will not be respon-
sible for woodwork and floors.

Sagging paper from ceiling and
walls due to leaks in roofs,
plumbing, and sweating radia-
tors. Plaster fallen out, leaving
large open spaces. Walls along
stairway carved, nicked, and
soiled.

* Prepared by George R. Arthur for the Urban Section of the Group on the Physical
Aspects of Negro Housing, and submitted as an appendix to the report of the Com-
mittee on Negro Housing.

258

THE KITCHENETTE APARTMENT

259

White Area

Negro Area

Bathrooms

Tubs and wash basins in good
condition. Average number of
persons per bath — ten. Aver-
age number of water toilets per
building — three.

Average number of persons per
bath — sixteen; in one building,
twenty-nine using one bathroom.
Average number of water toilets
per building — two. Average
number of apartments per
building — seven.

Back Porches

Crudely repaired but evidently
firm.

Seven out of ten had ragged open
spaces in floor, missing palings,
and fallen, rotten back steps.

Basements

Good laundry and storage facili-
ties.

Two flooded. (Survey made, in
part, after heavy rain.) Clut-
tered; missing taps and faucets.
In two instances, plumbing up-
rooted and impossible for laun-
dry purposes. Upstairs, wet
clothing hung in small kitchens,
bedrooms, and over good ban-
isters.

Rentals

Maximum per week per apart-
ment — $12.50 for three-room
apartment, maid and janitor
service. Average rental per
week— $7.15.

Maximum rental for three-room
apartment per week — $15.00.
No maid service. Average rental
per apartment per week — $8.75.

Attitude of Landlords

Typical of both areas: "This type of housing is necessary for a certain
type of people." "After all, it is only an investment. I am not a
social worker." "They're not complaining. They are satisfied.
Some of them can't pay for this."

Police Captain in the
District

"You see the furnished kitchenette apartment is just the thing for
the prostitute. All she has to do is to walk in with her handbag.
She is able to pick up and leave just as easily."

Types of People Who
Occupy Apartments

Transient. Average time of occupancy, two weeks to six weeks. Un-
stable. Frequent change of address helps to conceal various in,
dividual obligations.

Recommendation

In view of this type of housing, the converted kitchenettefapartmen-
which has been so generally accepted by both whites and Negroest
we recommend that a further and more intensive study be made,
soliciting the cooperation of such social agencies as the church, the
Urban League, neighborhood housing associations, and landlords;
that instead of converting old elaborate houses into homes for
types now occupying such dwellings, a special type of housing be
provided with sink and toilet facilities, light, air, fire protection,
and privacy, at a rate in reach of groups according to varying eco-
nomic and social levels.

APPENDIX VIII

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Housing Conditions
General

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report No. 5. New York, The Association, 1923.

HAYNES, GEORGE EDMUND. Conditions among Negroes in the cities.
[Philadelphia, 1913] The Annals of the American academy of politi-
cal and social science, Sept., 1913, v. 46:105-119.

JOHNSON, CHARLES S. The Negro in American civilization. New York,
Henry Holt & co., 1930. 538 p.
The problem of homes: p. 119-223.

KENNEDY, LOUISE VENABLE. The Negro peasant turns cityward. New
York, Columbia university press, 1930. 270 p.

NEARING, SCOTT. Black America. New York, Vanguard press, 1929.
275 p.

REPORT OF THE RESEARCH COMMITTEE TO THE NATIONAL INTERRACIAL CON-
FERENCE. Charles S. Johnson, secretary. 1928. Section VI. Housing.

WOOFTER, T. J., jr. Negro problems in cities. Garden City, New York,
Doubleday Doran & co., 1928. 284 p.

Cities and States

Albany, N. Y.
NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE. The Negro population of Albany, New York.

The League, 1928.
Athens, Ga.

WOOFTER, T. J., jr. The Negroes of Athens. Bulletin of the Univer-
sity of Georgia, v. 14, no. 4, 1913. 62 p. (Phelps- Stokes fellowship
studies no. 1.)
Baltimore, Md.

JOHNSON, CHARLES S. The industrial survey of the Negro population
of Baltimore. National urban league, 1923. Summary. Negroes at
work in Baltimore, Maryland. Opportunity, June, 1923, v. 1 : 12-19.
Beckley, W. Va.

MATNEY, W. C. A survey of Negro housing and home ownership of
Beckley, W. Va. Charleston, W. Va., Bureau of Negro welfare and
statistics, 1928.
Boston, Mass.
DANIELS, JOHN. In freedom's birthplace. Boston, Houghton Mifflin

co., 1914. 496 p.
Buffalo, N. Y.

JOHNSON, CHARLES S. The Negro population of Buffalo, N. Y. New
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260

BIBLIOGRAPHY 261

Charleston, W . Va.

BUREAU OF NEGRO WELFARE AND STATISTICS. Negro housing report of
Charleston, W. Va., Charleston, W. Va., 1922.

Chicago, III.
COMSTOCK, ALZADA P. Chicago housing conditions : The problem of the

Negro. American journal of sociology, Sept., 1912, v. 18:241-257.
FRAZIER, E. FRANKLIN. The Negro family in Chicago. Chicago, Uni-
versity of Chicago press, 1932. 294 p.

GOLD, H. R. and B. K. ARMSTRONG. A preliminary study of interracial
conditions in Chicago. Home missions council, 1921.

Summary. Crisis, Mar., 1921, v. 21 :213-215.

GRAHAM, IRENE J. A study of Negro households. Chicago, Univer-
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HOUGHTELING, LEILA. The income and standard of living of unskilled
laborers in Chicago. Chicago, University of Chicago press, 1927.
224 p.

Ch. VIII, The standard of living: Housing and sanitation: p. 104-

117.

HUGHES, ELIZABETH A. Living conditions for small-wage earners in
Chicago. Chicago, Bureau of social surveys, Department of public
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MCDOWELL, MARY E. Hovels or homes? Opportunity, Mar., 1929,

v. 7:74-77.

CHICAGO COMMISSION ON RACE RELATIONS. The Negro in Chicago.
Chicago, University of Chicago press, 1922. 672 p.
Ch. Ill, The migration of Negroes from the South: p. 79-105;
Ch. IV, The Negro population of Chicago: p. 106-151;
Ch. V, The Negro housing problem : p. 152-230.

WORK, MONROE N. Negro real estate holders in Chicago. Thesis
(M. A.)— University of Chicago, 1903.

Cincinnati, 0.

CINCINNATI BETTER HOUSING LEAGUE. Tenement house survey. Cincin-
nati, The League (312 W. 9th St.), 1921.

ROBINSON, JAMES H. The Cincinnati Negro survey and program.
(In National conference of social work. Proceedings, 1919, p. 524-
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Columbia, Mo.

ELWANG, WILLIAM WILSON. The Negroes of Columbia, Mo., a con-
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Columbus, 0.

MARK, MARY LOUISE. Negroes in Columbus. Columbus, Ohio state
university press, 1928. 63 p. (Ohio state university studies, Graduate
school series in social science, no. 2.)

Housing conditions: p. 46-51; Overcrowding: p. 51-54;
The housing of Negroes in seven districts: p. 55-63.

262 NEGRO HOUSING

Dallas, Tex.
Dallas committee on interracial cooperation, Civic federation of Dallas.

Survey of Negro housing in Dallas, 1924-25.
Denver, Colo.

REID, IRA DnA. The Negro population of Denver. New York, Na-
tional urban league, 1929.
Detroit, Mich.

MAYOR'S INTERRACIAL COMMITTEE. The Negro m Detroit. Special survey
staff under direction of Detroit bureau of governmental research.
Detroit, 1926. Mimeographed.

Section V, Housing.

HAYNES, GEORGE EDMUND. Negro new-comers in Detroit, Michigan.
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Section on housing : p. 21.
Elisabeth, N. J.

REID, IRA DEA. The Negro population of Elizabeth. New York, Na-
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Erie, Penn.

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE.
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branch of the National association for the advancement of colored
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HINMAN, ALBERT G. An inventory of housing in a suburban city.
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JOHNSON, CHARLES S. The Negro population, Fort Wayne. New

York, National urban league, 1927.
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in Houston, Texas. New York, National urban league, 1929.
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MARTIN, ASA E. Our Negro population: a sociological study of the
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MISSOURI INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION, Housing conditions among Negroes
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Myrtle F. Cook, director.
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JOHNSON, CHARLES S. Negroes in a small southern town. Fisk uni-
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DAVES, JOSEPH H. A social study of the colored population of Knox-
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CHILDS, BENJAMIN GUY. The Negroes of Lynchburg, Virginia.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY 265

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Restrictive Covenant

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SURVEY OF THE MONTH; a news note. Opportunity, July, 1926, v. 4:230.
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268 NEGRO HOUSING

THE HORIZON; a news note. Crisis, Apr. 1920, v. 19:298; Apr. 1920,

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ARTHUR HILL CASE. Crisis, Nov. 1924, v. 29 :20.
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JOHNSON, CHARLES S. The Negro in American civilization. New York,
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WHITE, WALTER. The Sweet trial. Crisis, Jan. 1926, v. 31 :125-129.
Greensboro, N . C.

A REPRINT FROM THE GREENSBORO (N. C.) DAILY NEWS. Crisis, Aug.

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Louisville, Ky.

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270 NEGRO HOUSING

Richmond, Va.

DECISION OF LOWER COURT UPHELD. Pittsburgh courier, Jan. 25, 1930,
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KNIGHT, CHARLES Louis. Negro housing in certain Virginia cities.
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NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE. Bat-
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SEEKS REHEARING IN RICHMOND SEGREGATION CASE. Pittsburgh courier,
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U. S. COURT BLOCKS SEGREGATION IN VIRGINIA. The defender, Chicago,
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Rural

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Zoning

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Better Housing Campaigns and Projects
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HALBERT, BLANCHE. Why America will have better homes. Southern
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HALBERT, BLANCHE. Home improvement among Negro families. South-
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BIBLIOGRAPHY 271

Cities and States
Atlanta, Ga.
CALVIN, FLOYD. Heman Perry started Atlanta on its home building

program. Pittsburgh courier, Oct. 31, 1931. p. 6, sec. 1.
Baltimore, Md.

GARY, JOHN R. Helping Negro workers to purchase homes. Oppor-
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FERNANDIS, SARAH C. "A more excellent way": A housing plan.

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HOMES FOR NEGRO WORKERS ; editorial. Opportunity, Jan. 1924, v. 2 :4-5.
Chicago, III.
MODERN HOUSING FOR NEGROES BRINGS GRATIFYING RESULTS. American

city, Nov. 1930, v. 43 :151.

THE NEGRO COMING INTO HIS OWN. Housing, June, 1929, v. 18:110-113.
TAYLOR, ROBERT R. A demonstration in modern housing. Opportunity,

Mar. 1931, v. 9:82.
Cincinnati, 0.

GINBERG, HARRIS. Interesting facts about model houses and their ten-
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HOUSING FOR NEGRO WAGE EARNERS: An experiment. Opportunity,

July, 1923, v. 1 :208-210.
Louisville, Ky.
RAGLAND, JOHN M. Negro housing in Louisville. Southern workman,

Jan. 1929, v. 58:22-28.
New York, N. Y.

BRUCE, ROSCOE CONKLING. The Dunbar apartment house: An adven-
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Virginia.
AERY, WILLIAM A. Better health and better homes for Negroes by

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Washington, D. C.
THE MODEL CITY; editorial. Opportunity, Aug. 1929, v. 7:236-237.

INDEX

Advisory Committee on City Plan-
ning and Zoning, U. S. Depart-
ment of Commerce, 4, 220

Agricultural agents, county, U. S.
Department of Agriculture, 30

Albany, N. Y., 12, 84, 122

Albemarle County, Va., kitchen,
Better Homes in America Negro
demonstration house, before and
after reconditioning (illus.), fac-
ing 74

Alcoa, Tenn., Ill

Alley houses: 20-21, 25, (illus.),
facing 26 ; 123, 126 ; abolition rec-
ommended, 114

American Cast Iron Pipe Company,

American Management Association,
9fn

American Rolling Mill Company, 111

Apartments : for Negroes, 105-8,
239-42, 245-48; a kitchen in mod-
ern (illus.), facing 107; Braxton
Campbell Court, Cincinnati, Ohio
(illus.), facing 13, 244; court, Paul
Laurence Dunbar Apartments,
New York, N. Y. (illus.), frontis-
piece; kitchenette, in Chicago,
179-81, 258-59; kitchenette, study
recommended, 115; Michigan
Boulevard Garden Apartments,
Chicago, 111. (illus.), facing 106

Appraisal bureau, central, need for,
97

Armstrong Association, 109

Arthur, George R., 13

Asheville, N. C, 36

Ashland, Va., 37-38

Atkinson, Mrs. Ruth W., 30

Atlanta, Gary v., 222fn

Atlanta, Ga. : 36, 37, 39, 43, 93fn,
95fn, 103, 120, 199, 222; housing
projects for Negroes, 237

Baden, N. C, 111

Baltimore, Md. : 36, 37, 39, 42, 43,
47, 199, 201, 205, 213, 222; housing
projects for Negroes, 237-39

Batchelor, Carey, 15, 64fn

Beaver Products Company, 157

Beckley, W. Va., 85

Better Homes in America: kitchen,
Negro demonstration house, Char-
lottesville, Va., before and after

reconditioning (illus.), facing 250;
living room, Negro demonstration
house, Little Rock, Ark. (illus.),
facing 256; local campaign
methods, 255; Negro campaigns,
74, 249-57; Negro chairmen, 149;
Negro demonstration house, 1930,
Greenville, S. C. (illus.), facing
251 ; Negro demonstration house,
1928, before and after recondition-
ing (illus.), facing 74; Negro
demonstration houses, 1931, 250;
Negro participation in 1931 cam-
paign, 249-50; purposes, 113, 254-
55; tours, 257

Birmingham, Ala., 36, 103, 111

Blanshard, Paul, 29

Blighted areas, characteristics, 5-6

Bostrom, Charles, 220

Boys, Negro, percentage of, of total
cases in Boys' Court, Chicago
(table), 148

Braxton Campbell Court, Cincinnati,
O. (illus.), facing 13, 244

Bruce, Roscoe Conkling, 107fn,
245fn, 248fn

Bryan, Joseph D., 148fn, 149, 150,
151

Buchanan v. Warley, 39fn, 221

Buckley, Corrigan v., 41

Buffalo, N. Y., 11, 14, 71, 118

Building: codes, enforcement recom-
mended, 114; laws to improve
Negro housing, need for, 34

Building and loan associations: en-
couragement of, recommended,
115; Negro, 85, 96, 101, 238

Burbridge, L. F., 102

Burgess, Ernest W., 4fn, 53, 116fn,
203fn, 205

Calvin, Floyd J., 237fn
Campbell, O., Ill
Gary v. Atlanta, 222fn
Gary, John R., 239fn
Charleston, S. C., 7, 18, 203
Charleston, W. Va., 85, 123
Charlottesville, Va. : 24fn, 85fn,
138fn; kitchen, Better Homes in
America Negro demonstration
house, before and after recondi-
tioning (illus.), facing 74
Chicago, 111.: 3, 5, 6, 11, 12, 14, 16,
41, 43, 46, 48, 52, 54, 55, 57, 59,

273

274

NEGRO HOUSING

63, 71, 80, 84, 86-89, 97, 102, 106,
107, 116, 117, 118, 120, 143-98,
203, 205, 211, 213, 232, 239-42; de-
linquency, characteristics of "Black
Belt" influencing, 183-91 ; delin-
quency, characteristics of Near
West Side influencing, 191-95 ; de-
linquency in selected areas (table),
53; delinquency problem among
Negroes, 144-55 ; home ownership
in, 86-89, 232; homicides by Ne-
groes, ratio to total homicides,
1921-28 (table), 154; housing con-
ditions with special reference to
juvenile delinquency, 143-98; hous-
ing projects for Negroes, 239-42;
Michigan Boulevard Garden
Apartments, 239-42; Negro hous-
ing, 86-87, 123-24; persons ar-
raigned before Municipal and
Criminal Courts (table), 152;
rent levels among Negroes, 172-
83; United Charities of, 174fn, 181

Chicago Commission on Race Rela-
tions, 7, 46fn, 49, 54fn, 56, 63fn,
79, 87fn, 92fn, 124fn, 178fn, 231

Chicago Department of Public Wel-
fare, lOfn, 12fn, 14fn, 63fn, 72,
84fn, 124fn

Chicago Police Department, Annual
Reports of, 152

Chicago Urban League : 52fn, 143fn,
145fn, 157fn, 158fn, 159fn, 160fn,
163, 165fn, 171, 172, 173, 174fn,
176fn, 196; placements of Negro
female workers made by (table),
164

"Chicago Whip, The," 171fn, 172

Chicago Zoning Commission, 220

Children's Bureau, U. S. Depart-
ment of Labor, 27

Cincinnati, O. : 105, 106 ; Braxton
Campbell Court (illus.), facing 12;
housing projects for Negroes, 242-
45; inferior housing conditions
(illus.), facing 13

Cincinnati Better Housing League,
106

Cincinnati Model Homes Company:
105-6, 242-45 ; division of expendi-
tures, 244; housing projects, 242-
45 ; losses from vacancies in hous-
ing projects, 244; maintenance
costs in housing projects, 244-45

Cities, Negro housing in: northern,
8-17; southern, 17-25

Citizens Housing Corporation, 108

City growth: Negro housing as

phase of, 4-5 ; and urban zones,

202-3
City property, value of, owned by

Negroes, 1923 and 1928, Ga., N. C,

and Va. (table), 83
Civic improvement through welfare

organizations, recommended, 114
Clark, Mrs. Patricia, 181fn
Cleveland, O., 3, 5, 46, 211, 213
Columbus, O., 11, 84, 94, 124-26
Commission, municipal, to investigate

housing conditions recommended,

114
Communities, Negro, suggested study

of types, 116-17
Community, Negro housing and the,

34-51

Cone, M. H., 144fn
Congestion, housing, 10-11
Cooperative associations, local, of

Negro prospective home owners

recommended, 115
Corrigan v, Buckley, 41
Corrigan, Mrs. Irene Hand, 41
Corson, John J., Ill, 23fn, 24, 86,

139m
Covenants, segregation : litigation

concerning, 41-42, 43-44; and or-
dinances, 35-37; and restrictive

compacts, 40-42
Credit risks, Negroes as, 102-4
Cressey, Paul R, 55
Crime in Chicago : extent among

Negro adults, 151-55; problem,

144-45
Cumberland County, N. J., 84

Dallas, Tex, 22, 36, 85, 126-27
Dallas Committee on Interracial
Cooperation, Civic Federation of
Dallas, 22, 85fn, 86, 127fn
Darrow, Clarence, 214
Daves, Joseph H., 24fn, 131fn
Davies, John R., 16
Davis, Don A., lOlfn
Dedeaux, Mrs. Maude R., 20fn
Delinquency in Chicago: among
boys, 147-51 ; among boys, at-
tempts at prevention and adjust-
ment, 149-51 ; among boys, rela-
tion of housing and income to,
148-49; characteristics of "Black
Belt" influencing, 183-91 ; char-
acteristics of Near West Side in-
fluencing, 191-95; cycles, 195-97;
factors causing, 196-97; juvenile,
and parental income, 170-71 ;
juvenile, as related to housing,

INDEX

275

143-98; juvenile, in Negro areas,
52-53, 55, 57; juvenile, problem of,
144-55 ; Negro, increase in, 144-45 ;
Negro, relation of housing to, 52-
57 ; relation of housing and income
to, 148-49; relation of rents to,
181-83, 194-95; selected areas
(table), 53; and neighborhoods,
52-57

Delinquents in Chicago: adult, prob-
lem of, 151-55; boy, per cent of
Negroes among (table), 147;
Negro, geographical distribution,
155-56; Negro boy, percentage of
total cases in Boys' Court (table),
148; of Boys' Court age, 147-48;
total yearly, before Cook County
Juvenile Court (table), 147

Denver, Colo., 47

Depreciation of property values : not
caused by Negro occupancy, 50-
51 ; through Negro residence, 44,
48-51, 92, 117, 118, 204

Detroit, Mich.: 3, 5, 11, 41, 47, 50,
64, 85, 107, 127-28, 210, 214, 215 ;
Negro home ownership in, 85, 232

Detroit, Mayor's Interracial Com-
mittee of, lOfn, 12, 50, 51fn, 64fn,
85, 128fn, 232fn

Detroit Bureau of Governmental Re-
search, Inc., lOfn, 12fn, 50, 51fn,
64fn, 85fn, 128fn, 232fn

Detroit City Planning Commission,
107

Division of Building and Housing,
U. S. Department of Commerce,
4fn

Duke, Charles S., 97

Dunbar, Paul Laurence, Apartments :
107, 239, 245-48; average room
payment per month, 247; inner
court (illus.), frontispiece; median
wage of tenant-subscribers, 246;
nursery (illus.), facing 158

Earnings: 1,316 families (table), 65;
monthly, relation to rent (table),
65'; total weekly, 200 heads of
families, compared with weekly
rents, Newark (table), 70. See
also Income; Wages

East St. Louis, 111., 252

Economic factors in Negro housing :
52-78; Chicago, 143-98; findings
and tentative conclusions, 195-98;
general observations, 71-78

Edwards, Paul K., 103

Efficiency among Negro workers, ef-
forts to increase, 171-72

Elizabeth, N. J.: 66, 128; relation of
rent to family income, 210 Negro
families (table), 66

Elizabeth (N. J.) Interracial Com-
mittee, 66fn

Employment: efforts to increase op-
portunities of Negroes in, 171-72;
of Negroes, attitude toward, 157-
58

Epstein, Abraham, 136fn

Evans, Mrs. Irving, 20fn

Evanston, 111., 128-29

Exploitation of Negroes in home
purchase, 96-98, 127

Families: composition of, Newark
(table), 67; dependent, and rent in
Chicago, 181 ; reporting earnings
of specified amounts in one month
(table), 65

Family: fund, per cent spent for
rent (table), 62; life in 200 Negro
families in Newark, N. J., study
of, 67-69; income, relation of rent
to, in 210 Negro families, Eliza-
beth, N. J. (table), 66; stability
and home ownership, 86-89

Federal home loan discount banks,
proposed, suggested endorsement
of, 102

Feldman, Herman, 59fn

Fisk University, 22, 28, 57fn, 89fn,
103

Florida: counties, population and
home ownership (table), 31;
rural housing conditions, 30-32;
Vocational Educational Depart-
ment, 30

Florida Agricultural and Mechanical
College, 30

Florida Farmers' Cooperative As-
sociation, 30

Florida State Agricultural Exten-
sion Service, 30

Fort Wayne, Ind., 118

Frazier, E. Franklin, 57, 86, 89fn,
116, 154fn, 173, 184fn, 196, 232

Furnishing, living room, in Better
Homes in America Negro demon-
stration house, Little Rock, Ark.
(illus.), facing 256

Garden apartments, 105-8, 239-42
Gary, Ind., 7
Ginberg, Harris, 245fn
Gloucester County, N. J., 84
Government aid in housing for low-
income groups, possible need of,
115

276

NEGRO HOUSING

Greene, Cyrus T., 30

Greenville, S. C. : 37, 39, 256; a

Negro residence (illus.), facing

251

Halbert, Blanche, 79fn, 254fn
Hall, Wiley A., 62fn, 63, 137fn
Hampton Institute, Hampton, Va.,

practice house for home economics

students, built by Negro boys

(illus.), facing 12
Hardin, T. A., lOOfn
Harlem, New York, N. Y., 16, 64,

82, 121, 122, 199, 211, 213, 215, 216,

232, 245

Harper, C. L., 237
Harris, Abram L., 12, 132fn
Haynes, George E., 201fn
Headley, Madge, 17fn, 80fn, 93fn,

96, 97fn, 103fn, 223fn

Hill, T. Arnold, 16, 52, 71fn, 79fn,

HOfn

Hill, T. Edward, 85fn, 123fn
Hinman, Albert G., 129fn
Hoffman, Frederick L., 9fn
Holmes, N. A., 21fn, lOOfn
Home building, individual, on small

capital, 89-91
Home buying: demonstration for

rural Negroes, recommended, 115;

exploitation of Negroes in, 96-98,

127; for Negroes, methods of, 96-

97. See also Home financing,
Negro

Home demonstration agents, county,
U. S. Department of Agriculture,
work of, 74-76

Home financing, Negro: Atlanta,
Ga., 95; Baltimore, Md., 238-39;
Chicago, 111., 97; Columbus, O.,
94; Houston, Tex., 98-99; Nash-
ville, Tenn., 95-96; New Orleans,
La., 100-1; high rates, 92; mort-
gages on property, 93-102; prob-
lems, 71-72, 92-104; risk elements
in, 92-93; rural southern Negroes,
difficulties for, 32-33; suggested
developments in, 101-2

Home loan discount banks, federal :
plan for, suggested endorsement
of, 102; proposed, suggested con-
sideration of Negro interests in,
102

Home owners, Negro : number, 79 ;
prospective, cooperative associa-
tions for, recommended, 115

Home ownership, Negro : 79-91, 231-
36 ; Beckley, W. Va., 85 ; Charles-
ton, W. Va., 84; Chicago, 84,

86-89, 182, 232; Chicago, among
families of delinquents, 182 ; Chi-
cago, family stability and, 86-89;
Chicago, seven wards in 1920
(table), 83; Columbus, O., 84;
Dallas, Tex., 85, 86; Detroit,
Mich., 85, 232; Detroit, Mich.,
value of houses owned by Negroes
(table), 232; Little Rock, Ark.,
108; Memphis, Tenn., comparison,
1910-1920 (table), 80; New Or-
leans, La., 86; New York, N. Y.,
82, 232-33 ; New York, N. Y., five
boroughs in, 1920 (table), 82;
Philadelphia, Pa., 85; Pittsburgh,
Pa., 85; Richmond, Va., 85, 233-
34; Washington, D. C., 85, 235-36;
fifteen cities (table), 81; fifteen
cities, trends in, 79-80 ; general
trends, 91; Pennsylvania, 234-35;
Pennsylvania, percentage of (out-
right or buying), 1925 (table),
234 ; southern cities, 85-86 ; sug-
gested study, 118; various cities,
232-36; and population in Florida
counties (table), 31

Homemakers' BHiilding and Loan
Association, 238

Homicides by Negroes, ratio to total
homicides, Chicago, 1921-28
(table), 154

Hoover, Herbert, President of the
United States, 220, 254

Hope Haven League, 149

Houghteling, Leila, 59fn, 60, 61, 62,
69, 232fn

Houses : demolition of, to improve
conditions recommended, 76, 77-
78, 114; Negro, classified, 7-8;
Negro, state of repair of, 12-14;
tenant-, in the South, types of, 32

"Housing," 241fn

Housing : conditions, good, organiza-
tions suggested for encouragement
of, 114; congestion, 10-11; for
boys, 151 ; methods of improving,
74-78 ; standards, minimum, recom-
mended for tenants, 115; and in-
come, relation to boys' delinquency
in Chicago, 148-49

Housing, Negro : Albany, N. Y.,
122; Charleston, W. Va., 123;
Chicago, 86-89, 123-24; Chicago,
social and economic factors in,
143-98; Cincinnati, O., inferior
conditions in (illus.), facing 13;
Columbus, O., 124-26; Dallas,
Tex., 22, 126-27; Detroit, Mich.,
127-28; Elizabeth, N. J., 128;

INDEX

277

Evanston, 111., 128-29; Houston,
Tex., 23; Kansas City, Mo., 129-
31; Knoxville, Tenn., 131; Louis-
ville, Ky., 131 ; Minneapolis, Minn.,
132; Nashville, Tenn., 22; New
Orleans, La., 18-22; New York,
N. Y., 132-33; Newark, N. J., 68;
Philadelphia, Pa., 133-35; Pitts-
burgh, Pa., 135-37; Richmond,
Va., 137-39; Troy, N. Y., 139-40;
Truxton, Va., 111-13; Washington,
D. C., 140; Washington, D. C,
inferior conditions in (illus.),
facing 26 and 140; Worcester,
Mass., 140-41 ; as phase of city
growth, 4-5; examples of better
standards (illus.), facing 12; eco-
nomic factors in, 52-78; extracts
from rural surveys, 141-42; ex-
tracts from urban surveys, 119-
41 ; further projects for study,
116-18; in alleys (illus.), facing
26; in cities, 8-27, 119-41; in in-
dustrial cities, 9, 120; industrial,
110-11; methods of improving, 74-
78; new, 72; northern cities, 8-17,
120 ; problems of migrants, 133-35 ;
projects, 105-13, 237-48; physical
aspects, 4-34; physical aspects,
summary, 26-34; reasons for
special problem, 1-3; recommenda-
tions of Committee on, 114-15;
rural, 27-33 ; rural, in the South
(illus.), facing 27; rural, sug-
gested study, 118; rural, trends in
South, 30-33; rural, types, 27-30;
sectional factors, 8-25 ; shortage,
9, 12-13, 122, 124, 127, 128, 134,
135; social factors in, 52-78, 143-
98 ; South, summary of physical
aspects, 33-34; studies suggested,
116-18; types in South, 33-34;
urban, summary of physical as-
pects, 26-27 ; and mortality, 57-58 ;
and the community, 35-51. See
also Segregation

Housing commission, establishment
recommended: municipal, 114; na-
tional, 114; state, 114

Housing projects for Negroes: 105-
13, 237-48; Atlanta, Ga., 237; Bal-
timore, Md., 237-39; Chicago,
239-42; New York, N. Y., 245-48;
Cincinnati Model Homes Com-
pany, 242-45 ; new, recommenda-
tion for, 114; suggested study of
operation, 118

Houston, Tex., 18, 23, 98-99

Hubert, Giles A., 27

Hughes, Elizabeth A., 10, 12, 14m,
63fn, 72fn, 84, 124fn

Ihlder, John, 73, 74

Illinois Department of Labor,
Bureau of Labor Statistics, 164fn,
169fn

Income : Chicago, economic levels
among Negroes, 156-72; New
York, N. Y., and rental (table),
64; Newark, N. J., source of,
other than earnings of members
of family for 140 families (table),
69; Pittsburgh, and rental, Hill
District (table), 62; parental, and
delinquency, 170-71 ; and rent, re-
lation between, 61-66. See also
Earnings ; Wages

Income level of various occupational
types in Chicago: Negro females,
158-63; Negro males, 163-70

Indianapolis, Ind., 36

Industrial cities, Negro housing in,
9, 120

Industrial housing for Negroes,
110-11

Institute for Juvenile Research,
146fn, 183fn

Intimidation, use of, in segregation,
46-47, 210

Ivy, Sereno S., 41

Jackson, Miss., 252

Jackson v. State, 222fn

Jayne, Ira W., 214, 215

Jeanes (Anna T., Foundation) Su-
pervisors, 252

Jefferson County, Ark., 250, 251

Johnson, Charles S., 5fn, 14m, 28fn,
122fn, 205fn

Jones, William Henry, 25fn, 48, 58,
79, 85fn, 140fn

Julius Rosenwald Fund, 142fn

Juvenile delinquency as related to
housing in Chicago, 143-98. See
also Delinquency in Chicago

Kansas City, Mo., 47, 118, 129-31

Kennedy, Louise Venable, 9fn, llfn,
120fn, 204fn, 231fn

Kingsport, Tenn., 28

Kitchen in a modern apartment
house for Negroes (illus.), fac-
ing 107

Kitchenette apartments : for whites
and Negroes, comparison of simi-
lar, 258-59; high rents for
Negroes, 180 ; in Chicago, 179-81 ;
moral hazards in, 180-81 ; recom-

278

NEGRO HOUSING

mendation of committee concern-
ing, 259 ; sanitation problems,
179-80; study recommended, 115

Knight, Charles Louis, 24, 85fn,
138fn, 234

Knoxville, Tenn., 24, 131

Land: cultivated, decrease in South,
141 ; tenure among Negro farmers
in Southeast, 141 ; values, relation
to Negro invasion, 117

Lane, Winthrop D., 16fn

Lee County, Ark., 250, 252

Legislation: housing, recommended,
114; residential segregation, re-
moval suggested, 115; segrega-
tion, types, 37-42

Lexington, Ky., 96

Little Rock, Ark.: 108, 256; living
room in a Better Homes in Amer-
ica Negro demonstration house
(illus.), facing 256

Living standards of Negroes, 58-69

Loans on Negro property, 94-102

Lodgers: necessary to meet high
rents, 69 ; potential evils involved
in taking, 72

Longe, George, 19fn

Los Angeles, Calif., 37, 118

Louisville, Ky., 18, 24, 36, 37, 39,
42, 43, 44, 47, 58, 101, 131, 199,
201, 205, 211, 214, 215, 221

Low-income groups: housing, pos-
sible need for government aid in,
115; housing provision for, recom-
mended, 115

Lynchburg, Va., 24fn, 85fn, 138fn

Madisonville, Ky., 36

Magnusson, Leifur, 110

Mark, Mary Louise, llfn, 84fn, 94fn,
126fn

Martin, Asa E., 131fn

Matney, W. C, 85fn

McCracken, Fred D., lllfn

McDowell, Mary E., 72

McKenzie, R. D., 4fn

Memphis, Tenn.: 47, 80, 82, 121;
comparison of home ownership,
1910-1920 (table), 80

Michigan Boulevard Garden Apart-
ments: 105, 107, 239-42; (illus.),
facing 106

Middletown, O., Ill

Migrants, Negro, housing problems
of, 133-35

Migration, Negro, effect on segrega-
tion, 119, 122

Miller, Kelly, 206fn, 214, 215, 216,
217

Milton, L. D., 93fn, 95fn

Minneapolis, Minn., 12, 132

Minneapolis Urban League, 12fn,
132fn

Mizpah, N. J., 84

Mooresville, N. C., 36

Mortality and Negro housing, 57-58

Mortgage certificates for home fi-
nancing among Negroes, possible
use of, 101-2

Mortgages on Negro property, 93-
102. See also Home financing

Moses, Earl R., 52fn, 143fn, 154fn

Moss, R. Maurice, 141m

Municipal housing commissions,
establishment recommended, 114

Municipality, responsibility in im-
proving housing conditions, 75

Nail, John E., 98, 101, 215, 232

Napier, J. C., 96m

Nashville, Tenn., 18, 22, 89-91, 96fn,
103

National Association for the Ad-
vancement of Colored People, 37,
42fn, 210, 212, 214

National Commission on Law Ob-
servance and Enforcement, 52

National housing commission, rec-
ommendation for, 114

National Negro Insurance Associa-
tion, 102

National Urban League, lOfn, 12fn,
13, 23, 25fn, 30, 52, 62fn, 67fn,
84fn, 122fn, 128fn, 137fn, 140fn,
141fn, 231fn, 233fn

Nearing, Scott, lOfn, 120fn

Negro Civic Welfare Association,
106fn

Negro housing. See Housing, Negro

"Negro Year Book," 29, 79

Negroes arrested in Chicago, per-
centage of, compared with whites
(table), 152

Neighborhoods and delinquency, 52-

New Jersey Conference of Social
Work, 67, 84fn

New Orleans, La., 18-22, 36, 37, 42,
43, 86, 100, 102, 116fn, 165fn

New York, N. Y. : 3, 5, 6, 10, 11, 14,
15, 41, 58, 64, 80, 82, 101, 107, 117,
118, 121, 199, 203, 209, 211, 215,
216, 220 ; income and rental in
(table), 64; Mayor's Committee
on Rent Profiteering, 16; Negro

INDEX

279

home ownership in, 232-33 ; Negro
housing in, 132-33 ; Negro housing
projects, 245-48

New York Commission on Hous-
ing and Regional Planning, 132,
133

New York Tenement House De-
partment, 133

New York Urban League, lOfn,
12fn, 14fn, 66fn, 133fn

Newark, N. J. : 67, 107 ; composition
of families (table), 67; housing
conditions, 68 ; source of income
other than earnings of family
members (table), 69; study of 200
Negro families in, 67-69; total
weekly earnings, 200 heads of
families, compared with rents
(table), 70

Newcomb, Charles W., 173fn

Newman, Bernard J., 12, 135fn

Norfolk, Va. : 36 ; segregation
ordinance, 38

Northern cities, Negro housing in,
8-17

Nursery, Paul Laurence Dunbar
Apartments, New York, N. Y.
(illus.), facing 158

Occupancy, Negro: relation to
property values, 44, 48, 51, 92, 117,
204 ; rental increases following,
New York (table), 15

Occupations, income level of Chicago
Negroes in various, 158-70

Octavia Hill Association, 109-10

O'Fallon, Berenice, 116

Ohio State University, llfn, 84fn,
94fn, 126fn

"Opportunity," 201fn

Otis, E. C., 157

O'Toole, Simon v., 108fn

Overcrowding among Negro fami-
lies, 10-11

Panken, Judge, 16

Park, Robert E., 4fn, 116, 205

Pemiscot County, Mo., 252

Penn Normal and Industrial School,
74, 253

Pennsylvania, Negro home owner-
ship in, 234-35

Pennsylvania Department of Wel-
fare, 85fn, 234

People's Building and Loan Asso-
ciation among Negroes, 101

Perkins, A. E., 43fn

Perkins, E. A., 21fn

Perry, Heman E., 237

Phelps-Stokes Fellowship, 24fn, 85fn,
138fn

Philadelphia, Pa., 3, 5, 11, 41, 85,
96, 108, 109, 120, 133-35, 199, 211,
213, 235

Philadelphia Housing Association,
12, 134

Phyllis Wheatley Center, 74

Physical aspects of Negro housing:
4-34; summary, 26-34

Pittsburgh, Pa., 5, 46, 62, 85, 110,
135-37

Pittsburgh General Committee on
the Hill Survey, 62fn

Pittsburgh Housing Association, 73,
110

Pittsburgh Urban League, 110

Placements of Negro female work-
ers made by Chicago Urban
League (table), 164

Planting, attractive, shown in Bet-
ter Homes in America Negro
demonstration house, Greenville,
S. C. (illus.), facing 251

Poe, Clarence, 39, 224, 230fn

Pope, Oscar, 99fn

Population : density among Negroes,
11; density in Negro settlements,
suggested study, 117-18; Negro,
comparative study of movements
suggested, 116; Negro, increase in
cities, 2-3; Negro, increase in the
North, 8-9 ; Negro, increase in the
United States, 2 ; Negro rural, 27 ;
and home ownership in Florida
counties (table), 31

Portsmouth, Va., 37, 111, 112, 113

Positions for Negroes, efforts to in-
crease number, 171-72

"Progressive Farmer, The," 39, 224

Property : deterioration factors, 48-
51 ; values, effect of Negro resi-
dence on, 44, 48-51, 92, 117, 204;
values, study suggested, 118. See
also Real Estate

Prudential Life Insurance Company,
107

Pulaski County, Ark., 257

Race segregation. See Segregation

Ragland, John M., 24fn, 131fn

Real estate : city, value of, owned by

Negroes, 1923 and 1928, Ga.,

N. C, and Va. (table), 83; Negro,

elements of risk in financing, 92-

93 ; Negro, holdings in New York,

216; Negro mortgages on, 93-102;

values, effect of Negro residence

on, 44, 48-51, 92, 117, 204

280

NEGRO HOUSING

Recommendations of Committee on
Negro Housing, 114-15, 259

Reconditioning: as method of im-
proving Negro housing, 76; ex-
terior (illus.), facing 74; interior
(illus.), facing 250; recommenda-
tion for, 114

Reid, Ira De A., lOfn, 12, 14fn, 15,
62fn, 63, 66fn, 67fn, 69fn, 84fn,
122fn, 128fn, 133fn, 137fn, 140fn,
231fn, 233fn

Rent : Chicago, 174-78 ; Chicago, for
low-grade houses, 174; Chicago,
levels among Negroes, 172-94;
Chicago, paid by families of de-
linquents, 76-78, 174-78, 185-86,
187, 188, 189, 190, 193, 194; Chi-
cago, scale for different areas,
174-78; Chicago, and delinquency,
relation between, 181-83, 197-98;
Chicago, and dependent families,
181; Elizabeth, N. J., relation to
family income, 210 Negro families
(table), 66; New York, N. Y.,
relation to income (table), 64;
Newark, N. J., 68; Newark, N. J.,
weekly, compared with total
weekly earnings, 200 heads of
families (table), 70; comparison
ofj paid by whites and Negroes
for similar apartments, 14; ex-
orbitant, for Negroes, 14, 15-17,
58-59, 66, 71, 127, 133, 134-35, 259;
factors underlying variations in,
174; for Negroes, Cincinnati
Model Homes Company houses,
106; high, for Negroes, reasons
for, 58-59, 194; high, relation to
delinquency, 181-83, 197-98; high,
social implications of, 69-71 ;
Negro neighborhoods, suggested
study, 118; per cent of earnings of
chief wage earner spent for
(table), 61; per cent of family
fund spent for (table), 62; rela-
tion to earnings (table), 65; re-
lation to wages in 179 Negro fami-
lies, 63 ; and income, relation be-
tween, 61-66

Rentals : New York, increases follow-
ing Negro occupancy (table), 15;
New York, and income (table),
64 ; Pittsburgh, and income, Hill
District (table), 62; Truxton, Va.,
Negroes, 113; comparison for
Negroes and whites, 14-17; Mich-
igan Boulevard Garden Apart-
ments, 106 ; Negroes in North,
14-17

Renters, Negro, number of, 79

Repair in Negro houses, state of,
12-14

Research recommended : by Commit-
tee on Negro Housing, 116-18;
for municipal housing commission,
114; for proposed national hous-
ing commission, 114; for state
housing commission, 114

Residence areas : general character-
istics of inherited, 5-6 ; Negro, evo-
lution of, 120-22; Negro, in Chi-
cago, 183-95

Reuter, Edward B., 201fn

Reynolds Tobacco Company, 111

Richmond, Va. : 7, 18, 23-24, 36, 37,
85, 121, 137-39, 203; home owner-
ship in, 233-34; segregation ordi-
nance, excerpt from, 38

Richmond Council of Social Agen-
cies, 24, 73, 138fn, 234fn

"Richmond News-Leader," 23fn, 73,
138

Roanoke, Va., 37

Robinson, J. W., 85fn

Robinson, H. N., 158fn, 165fn, 176fn

Rockefeller, John D., Jr., 82, 107,

239, 245, 246

Rosenwald, Julius, 105, 106, 107, 239,

240, 241

Rural: Negroes, demonstration in
methods of home buying recom-
mended for, 115; Negroes, land
tenure in Southeast, 141 ; Negroes,
suggested formation of coopera-
tive associations by, to promote
home ownership, 115; segregation,
224-30 ; social work to improve
housing, development of, recom-
mended, 115

Rural housing : among Negroes, 27-
33, 141-42; Negro, financing diffi-
culties in, 32-33; Negro, in the
South (illus.), facing 27; Negro,
suggested study, 118; suggested
cooperation of educational and
welfare agencies to promote, 115;
Negro, trends in South, 30-33

St. Francis County, Ark., 250, 252
St. Helena Island, S. C, 28, 74, 253
St. Louis, Mo., 14, 36, 116, 117, 201,

205
Sanitation in Negro housing, 19-22,

23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 30, 32, 33-34,

126, 128, 129-30, 131, 132, 135,

136-37, 138-40
Savannah, Ga., 121
Sazon, Mrs. W. O., 21fn, lOOfn

INDEX

281

Schmidlapp, Jacob G., 105

Sectional factors in Negro housing,
8-25

Segregation : 5, 35-47, 199-230 ; argu-
ments against, 45-46 ; arguments
for, 44-45; bad effects of, 200-1;
basic problems of, 216-17; cause
of delinquency, 145-46; causes,
206-10; covenants, 35-37; cove-
nants, race friction as result of,
42-43 ; economic dangers, 43-44 ;
effect of Negro migration on, 119,
122; factors in, 204-5; legal de-
cisions against, 210, 211-12, 214-
15 ; legislation, removal recom-
mended, 115; Negro protests
against, 214-17; ordinances, 35-40,
201, 211-12; patterns, 6-7, 37-40,
203; reasons for objections to, 208-
9 ; rural, 224-30 ; rural, evil effects
of proposed, 224-27 ; social effects
of formal efforts at, 42-44 ; source
of Negro housing difficulties, 35,
203-4 ; violence in enforcing, 46-47,
210 ; zoning, attempted use in,
221-23

Seligmann, Herbert J., 214fn, 217fn

Shaw, Clifford R., 145, 146fn, 154fn,
183fn, 184fn

Simmons-Whittington Bill, 31

Simon v. O'Toole, 108fn

Sites, new, acquisition of, 48

Smith, T. V., 53fn

Social factors in Negro housing:
52-78; Chicago, 143-98; findings
and tentative conclusions, 195-98 ;
general observations, 71-78; im-
plications of high rents and low
wages, 69-71 ; relation of, to resi-
dence in transition areas, suggested
study, 118

Social work, rural, development of,
to improve housing, recommended,
115

South: economic problems of Negro
farmers in, 141-42; Negro hous-
ing in, 17-25, 33-34

Southern cities, home ownership in,
85-86

Springfield, 111., 118

Standard of living for Negroes: 58-
69; suggested study of, 118

Standard Realty Company, 101

Standards, minimum, establishment
of, to improve Negro housing, 77

State housing commission, recom-
mendation for establishment of,
114

Steiner, Jesse F., 116
Stephenson, Gilbert T., 37, 227, 228
Storrow, Helen (Mrs. James J.), 113
Summers, Mrs. Lillian, 181fn
Sweet, Ossian, 210, 214

Tallahassee, Fla., 30

Tenants : minimum housing stand-
ards for, recommended, 115;
Negro, rental delinquency of, com-
pared with whites, 244

Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad
Company, 111

Tenon, Miss, 179

Thayer, A. C, 165fn

Thomas, Jesse O., 23

Topeka, Kan., 74, 118

Torrey, Mrs. Minnie E., 41

Torrey v. Wolfes, 41

Transition areas, relation of de-
linquency to, suggested study, 118

"Trenton Times, The," 42

Troy, N. Y., 139-40

Truxton, Va., 111-13

Tulsa, Okla., 25

Union, N. J., 47

United Neighborhood Houses, New

York, N. Y., 15, 64fn
United States Bureau of the Census,

235
United States Bureau of Labor

Statistics, 110
United States Children's Bureau, 27,

United States Department of Agri-
culture, Extension Service, work

of county agents, 74-75
United States Department of Labor,

27, 112, 113

United States Department of Com-
merce, 4fn, 220
United States Housing Corporation,

112, 113
University of Chicago, 145fn, 173fn,

191fn, 205, 240
University of Pittsburgh, 62fn,

136fn, 137fn
University of Virginia, 24fn, 85fn,

138fn
Urban surveys of Negro housing,

26-27, 119-41
Urbanization, problems involved in,

119

Value of houses owned by Negroes,

Detroit (table), 232
Values, property, relation of Negro

282

NEGRO HOUSING

residence to: 44, 48-51, 92, 117,

204; study suggested, 118
Vice resorts, proximity to Negro

districts, suggested study, 118
Violence, use of, in segregation, 46-

47, 210

Wage earner: percentage of earn-
ings of, spent for rent (table), 61 ;
relation of wage to rent in 179
Negro families, 63

Wage earners, earnings classified by
race (table), 60

Wages : Chicago Negroes, 170 ; Chi-
cago, Negro females, 158-63;
Chicago, Negro males, 163-70;
Chicago, Negro males, average
weekly, and range of, for specific
occupational classifications (table),
169; Newark Negroes, 68; New-
ark, total weekly, 200 heads of
families, compared with weekly
rents (table), 70; discrimination
against Negroes in, 158, 162-63,
163-65, 166-67, 168, 169, 171; low,
social implications of, 69-71 ; re-
lation to rent in 179 Negro fami-
lies, 63

Walker, T. C, 29

Warley, Buchanan v., 39fn, 221

Warren County, Miss., 256

Washington, Booker T., 45, 229

Washington, D. C. : 18, 25, 41, 43,
58, 85, 140, 199, 201, 209, 212, 213,
215; Goat Alley (illus.), facing
26; home ownership in, 235-36;
Logan's Court (illus.), facing 26;
neglected housing conditions
(illus.), facing 140

Washington, Forrester B., 85fn,
235fn

Weber, Gustavus A., 139

Wehle, Louis B., 44

Wesley, Carter, 99fn

West Virginia Bureau of Negro
Welfare and Statistics, 85fn, 123fn

White, L. P., 53fn

White Plains, N. Y., 41

Whittington-Simmons Bill, 31

Williams, Fannie B., 145fn

Williams, Airs. Florence C., 30

Wilmington, Del., 108

Wilson-Edwards, Mrs. Martha,
157fn, 159fn, 160fn, 164fn

Winston-Salem, N. C, 36, 38, 111

Wirth, Louis, 4fn

Wolfes, Torrey v,, 41

Woodbury, Robert M., 57fn

Woofter, T. J., Jr., 4fn, 6, 8, 11,
14fn, 26fn, 28, 53fn, 58, 79, 80fn,
93fn, 97fn, 103fn, 108, 117, 120fn,
142fn, 203fn, 231

Worcester, Mass., 140-41

Work, Monroe N., 29fn, 42fn, 47fn,
84fn

Workers in Chicago, Negro : fe-
male, income level, 158-63, 170;
female, placements made by Chi-
cago Urban League (table), 164;
male, income level, 163-69. See
also Wages

Youngstown Land Company, 111
Youngstown Sheet and Tube Com-
pany, 111

Zones: in city growth, 4-5; Negro
residence, suggested study, 116-
17; Negro settlement, in Chicago,
183-95 ; residential, in city develop-
ment, 202-3

Zoning: advantages, 218; as affect-
ing Negro housing, 217-23 ; at-
tempts at race segregation through,
221-23; possible dangers of, 219-
20 ; to improve Negro housing
conditions, need for, 34

"Zoning Primer, A," 4fn, 220

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Full text of "Negro housing; report of the Committee on Negro Housing, Nannie H. Burroughs, chairman;"

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